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commentisfree/2016/aug/19/theresa-may-tackle-corporate-atrocities-human-rights | Theresa May promised to tackle corporate atrocities. Now she must keep her word | Peter Frankental | During her leadership campaign last month the prime minister, Theresa May, promised to “get tough on irresponsible behaviour in big business”. This is a promise we at Amnesty hope May sticks to – particularly as this week marks two anniversaries that highlight the UK’s appalling track record of standing by while companies registered on its soil behave shamefully abroad. Four years ago this week, security forces in South Africa shot and killed 34 striking mine workers who were protesting at the abusive and exploitative conditions they were enduring. During a government-led inquiry into the deaths, the UK mining company Lonmin was compelled to admit that many of its workers live in terrible squalor – without electricity, adequate toilets or running water. A senior executive conceded that the conditions there were “truly appalling”. This week also marks 10 years since over 540,000 litres of toxic waste was dumped at 18 sites across Abidjan in Ivory Coast, the biggest capital city in west Africa. More than 100,000 people sought medical attention after the dumping, and the authorities reported 15 deaths. The health problems were similar for all victims: skin irritations, headaches and breathing problems. A major medical emergency ensued in a country barely emerging from several years of armed conflict and political crisis. The United Nations is due to announce later this year whether the dump sites have finally been decontaminated. The operations that brought about one of the worst corporate-created disasters this century were coordinated from an office in London by executives and employees of the multinational commodities trader Trafigura. Damning internal emails show how the chance of profiting from cheap gasoline sales was a key factor behind the creation of this toxic waste. Emails also show that the company was aware before starting the process that created the waste that it would be hazardous and difficult to dispose of. Sadly, these company-made disasters are not isolated cases. Elsewhere in west Africa, Amnesty has long documented the failure of Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell to clean up decades of oil spills in the Niger Delta, leaving communities that depend on fishing and farming devastated. Several powerful UK multinationals have been implicated in serious human rights abuses abroad that are linked to potential violations of UK criminal law, such as sanctions breaches and complicity in torture and killings in Myanmar, Colombia, Tanzania, Peru and the Democratic Republic of Congo. By allowing these abuses to go unpunished, the UK is, in effect, incentivising its companies to operate to unacceptable standards overseas, while leaving communities adversely affected and families of victims to spend years campaigning for justice. This would be much less likely to happen if there weren’t gaps in UK law which allowed companies to take advantage of weaker regulation abroad, even to the point of committing human rights abuses. This has left a trail of disaster around the world and devastated local communities. The reluctance of UK authorities to take action stands out in these cases. Pressed by Amnesty International to investigate Trafigura’s role in the dumping of toxic waste in Abidjan, UK regulatory bodies have played a game of pass-the-parcel until making the astonishing admission that they lack the strong laws, resources and expertise to take on a corporate giant. What is required now are corporate rules that are fit for the age of powerful multinationals which operate across borders. A good start would be to introduce a new version of Section 7 of the UK Bribery Act to be made applicable in human rights cases. This would create an offence of failing to prevent serious human rights abuses within a company’s global operations. Such a law would make the company accountable for abuses unless it could show it had adequate procedures in place to prevent them – a strong incentive for companies to proactively ensure they respect human rights. This “due diligence” principle has become standard practice for bribery. Even where the behaviour of Lonmin, Trafigura, Shell and others does not constitute a crime, nurturing a compliance culture for human rights would make it harder for abuses to drag on unchecked for years and would give victims a realistic chance of securing justice and redress. Almost every major economy in the world now criminalises companies for foreign bribery. But few have legislated for illegal acts that lead to serious human rights abuses overseas. If May is serious about tackling corporate crime, she will need to put in place stronger laws and enforcement. Otherwise corporate impunity will prevail and continue to stain the reputation of UK plc in many parts of the world. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'tone/comment', 'business/corporate-governance', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'business/royaldutchshell', 'business/oil', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'world/amnesty-international', 'world/world', 'law/human-rights', 'law/law', 'type/article', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2016-08-19T12:02:34Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2021/sep/13/uk-to-offer-265m-in-subsidies-for-renewable-energy-developers | UK to offer £265m in subsidies for renewable energy developers | Renewable energy developers will compete for a share in a £265m subsidy pot as the government aims to support a record number of projects in the sector through a milestone subsidy scheme later this year. Under the scheme, offshore wind developers will compete for contracts worth up to £200m a year, and onshore wind and solar farms will be in line for their first subsidies in more than five years. Alongside the £200m funding pot for offshore windfarms, there will be a further £55m available to emerging renewable technologies such as tidal power, of which £24m will be earmarked for floating offshore wind farms. The government will also make £10m available to developers of onshore wind and solar farms for the first time since it slashed subsidies in 2015, or enough to deliver up to 5GW of renewable energy capacity. Dan McGrail, chief executive of the trade organisation Renewable UK, said the scheme could bring forward private investment of over £20bn in a boost to jobs and the UK supply chain, while reducing energy bills and helping the UK to meet its climate targets. “The sector had called on government to increase the ambition for new renewable energy capacity at the upcoming auction and that is reflected in today’s announcement,” he said. The government has referred to the upcoming auction as the “biggest ever renewable support scheme” – despite offering less than the £325m and £290m offered in 2015 and 2017 respectively – because the falling cost of renewables means it may secure more renewable energy capacity than the government’s first three auctions combined. Renewable energy developers will compete for the funds in a reverse auction scheduled for December, in which the lowest-cost projects will secure a contract that guarantees the price for the clean electricity they generate. In the last auction, offshore wind costs tumbled by a third to record lows of about £40 per megawatt-hour, well below the price of electricity in the wholesale energy market, meaning households are unlikely to face higher charges on their energy bills. Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the energy minister, said the latest round of the support scheme would “support the next generation of renewable electricity projects needed to power our homes” and help meet the UK’s climate targets. Boris Johnson set out plans almost a year ago to support 40GW of offshore wind farms by 2030, or enough to power the equivalent of every home in the UK, as part of the government’s plan to “build back greener” from Covid-19. The prime minister’s “10-point plan” also includes funding for low-carbon hydrogen and millions of electric vehicles on British roads, as well as a goal to replace gas boilers by installing up to 600,000 electric heat pumps a year by 2028. Heat pumps are considered an important tool in cutting carbon emissions from the UK’s housing stock, which is responsible for about 14% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions, mostly due to a reliance on gas heating and poorly insulated homes. But the UK’s rollout is “seriously lagging” behind other European countries including Poland, Slovakia and Estonia, according to a recent analysis of industry data by Greenpeace. Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK’s policy director, said that if the government “wants a chance to catch up, it needs a proper strategy and enough cash” to make the cost of installing a heat pump – and upgrading energy efficiency – the same as replacing a gas boiler. A government spokesman said the strategy paper will set out how the government plans to help the upfront costs of heat pumps to fall in the coming years while keeping “fairness and affordability for both households and taxpayers at the heart of our plans”. | ['environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/solarpower', 'uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2021-09-12T23:01:05Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2017/jan/08/paris-mayor-anne-hidalgo-plan-restrict-traffic-pedestrianise-city-centre-france | Paris mayor unveils plan to restrict traffic and pedestrianise city centre | The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, has unveiled plans to restrict traffic in the French capital and pedestrianise the city centre in an attempt to halve the number of private cars on the roads. The move comes as arguments continue over the closure of roads along the Seine last summer and other traffic reduction measures introduced after dangerous spikes in pollution led to a cloud of smog over the city. Hidalgo told the Journal du Dimanche she wanted to “divide by around half the number of polluting private cars” in Paris as part of her ongoing campaign to “reconquer the public space” for pedestrians, cyclists and other non-polluting transport, including electric cars and scooters. A 1km stretch of road along the river from Place de la Concorde and Pont Royal is scheduled for closure. City authorities also plan to restrict traffic on two main roads running from east to west: the upper highway on the right bank and the rue de Rivoli, on which City Hall is located. Hidalgo is planning a new electric tramway, increased bicycle lanes on busy roads and the pedestrianisation of central areas. She said urgent environmental concerns and the challenge of making the transition to clean transport were absolute priorities. “The deluge is imminent and we cannot wait for it to sweep us all away … there are too many cars in Paris,” she told those gathered for her traditional new year wishes on Friday. The mayor said from September 2018, an electric tram-bus – nicknamed the “Olympic tramway” in honour of Paris’s bid for the 2024 Games – would run next to part of the upper highways along the Seine in both directions. The news will spark anger and dismay among Paris’s motorists, and Hidalgo’s political critics, who are already furious over the river highway closures. In the summer, two miles (3.3km) of highway from the Tuileries in the 1st arrondissement and the Arsenal port near Bastille in the 4th arrondissement along the right bank of the Seine were closed to traffic. The highway on the left bank had been closed previously. Drivers’ organisations were furious and complained that lengthy traffic jams caused by the closure were increasing pollution. The police have said the roads will be reopened if there are long-term problems, but City Hall insists they will remain closed. Hidalgo said she was “acting for future generations” and would not be diverted by critics’ attacks. In December, Paris banned half of all cars for several days and offered free public transport as pollution choked the city. Hidalgo said: “The pedestrianisation of the city centre is starting … the idea is to go step by step towards the pedestrianisation of the city centre. It will remain open to vehicles belonging to local residents, the police, emergency services and for deliveries, but not to all comers. “We say clearly that our aim is the significant reduction in car traffic, as all the world’s large cities are doing. We must constantly remind people: the fewer cars there are, the less pollution there is.” | ['world/paris', 'world/france', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'cities/cities', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'environment/air-pollution', 'profile/kim-willsher', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-01-08T14:34:13Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
media/2014/jun/02/david-beckham-wimp-amazon-michael-palin-bbc-england-brazil | David Beckham a 'wimp' after Amazon 'scares', says Michael Palin | It was billed as David Beckham's epic journey into the heart of the Amazon rainforest, but Michael Palin has branded the former England football captain a "wimp" after he was rattled on his debut BBC1 travelogue by a frog, a snake and concerns about his hair. Beckham and three friends travelled to Rio de Janeiro, where they played beach volleyball with the locals, before journeying to the remote Yanomami tribe for the 90-minute film masterminded my Beckham's marketing guru, Simon Fuller. The footballer, who hung up his boots last year, spent the night in the rainforest during the 12-day trip – "literally the middle of nowhere," he said – accompanied only by his friends and two expert guides. Beckham achieves one of his ambitions, which was to find somewhere in the world where he was not recognised, and has to explain football to one of the locals. Beckham said: "It is the first time I have ever had to explain what soccer is to anybody apart from Victoria." Beckham, who travels around much of the country on a motorbike, described some of the experiences as "terrifying" and complained about the perils of having to sleep in a hammock. He is filmed being left shaken by a brightly coloured frog which appears on top of the tent and by a snake which he worries is on his back and is seen slithering off into the jungle. Palin, the Monty Python star and veteran of numerous BBC travelogues including one to Brazil, who interviewed Beckham at the programme launch on Monday, told him: "You are a wimp really. David Attenborough would have interviewed it [the frog]." Beckham said: "I wish the snake had been bigger. It was bigger than it looks on TV. "I am not a big frog fan. It was bright orange and I was told it was pretty dangerous. I was a little bit nervous about that." Before setting off on the journey Beckham is filmed being given advice by his wife Victoria. She asks him: "What are you going to do with your hair, with all that humidity?" Beckham replies, much to the approval of his wife: "I am going to wear a hat." He also related a tricky experience with one tribesman who was naked and covered entirely in black paint. Despite his misgivings about the sleeping arrangements, Beckham said he wanted to do another travelogue "without a doubt". Whether it is on the BBC remains to be seen. The documentary, David Beckham: Into The Unknown was funded by its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, BBC1 and Fuller's XIX agency. It has been sold to about 15 countries so far. Fuller is understood to have first approached the BBC last year with the idea for the documentary, in the run-up to the football World Cup this month. Palin said the programme showed aspects of Beckham he had not seen before. While he said parts of it were "more David Beckham than David Attenborough", he said it was well shot and praised the footballer as a "good observer". It will air on BBC1 next Monday, in China on the same day and in Brazil the following week. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@theguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook. | ['media/bbc', 'media/media', 'media/bbc-worldwide', 'media/television', 'media/bbc1', 'football/david-beckham', 'football/football', 'tv-and-radio/travel-tv', 'culture/television', 'travel/brazil', 'travel/travel', 'world/brazil', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'travel/amazon', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'culture/michael-palin', 'culture/culture', 'type/article', 'profile/johnplunkett'] | environment/amazon-rainforest | BIODIVERSITY | 2014-06-02T11:27:43Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sustainable-business/2015/feb/06/outdoor-economy-lobbying-business-washington-oil- | The outdoor economy is big. Its voice in Washington is not | Two small California ski resorts, Dodge Ridge and Badger Pass, shut down in January as temperatures climbed to near-record highs and weeks passed without snow. With the Sierras suffering a historic drought, it’s hard to say for certain if they’ll reopen. The ski-industry closings are a small but representative setback for what a new report calls the outdoor economy — that is, “the stream of economic output that results from the protection and sustainable use of America’s lands and waters when they are preserved in a largely undeveloped state”. Outdoor recreation is a powerful economic force. It accounts for “more direct jobs than oil, natural gas and mining combined”, according to the report published by the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, in January. But in the political arena, those businesses that depend upon nature are decided underdogs when they battle adversaries, such as the fossil fuel industry, which would like to see more exploration for oil and gas on federal lands. One of the top battle lines is about which use supplies the most jobs. And sorting out the jobs claims – the Washington trade association version of “mine is bigger than yours” – isn’t easy. The Outdoor Industry Association has estimated that outdoor recreation, which includes hiking, biking, camping, fishing, hunting, skiing and motorcycling, supports 6.1m jobs in the US (pdf). The American Petroleum Industry (API) says the oil and gas industries support 9.8m US jobs. To settle such arguments, the Center for American Progress is asking the government to track the financial impact of the outdoor economy, just as it measures the energy, health care and education sectors. Matt Lee-Ashley, who wrote the report with Clare Moser and Michael Madowitz, says the commerce department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis currently cannot estimate the dollar impact of outdoor recreation, let alone gauge its value to the nation’s health or quality of life. “If you’re building economic policy, you need good numbers,” Lee-Ashley says. “What percentage of the US travel industry relates to outdoor places? How many people coming to the US visit a national park, and how much do they spend?” The bigger problem for nature lovers is that the companies and industry groups that depend on protecting wild and beautiful places – groups like the Outdoor Industry Association, the Conservation Alliance, the National Ski Areas Association and companies such as The North Face and Patagonia – don’t have the clout or lobbying budgets to match bigger industries that worry less about protecting the outdoors. Consider, as an example, a group called Protect Our Winters, which organizes skiers and snowboarders, among others, to “create a social movement against climate change, and ultimately to affect policy,” says Chris Steinkamp, its executive director. A nonprofit started by pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones and funded in part by the ski industry, its annual budget is about $500,000. The broader Outdoors Industry Association, meanwhile, spent about $7m in 2013, less than 20% of which went to government affairs, according to its most recent annual report. These groups and their environmental allies are being massively outspent by fossil fuel interests. The American Petroleum Institute, for example, spent $235m in 2012, according to its IRS Form 990. That year, API paid public relations company Edelman $51.9m for public relations and advertising, spent another $17m on lobbying and awarded its chief executive, Jack Gerard, $3.5m in direct compensation and $1.6m in “other compensation”. Other energy industry groups, including America’s Natural Gas Alliance and the National Mining Association, are smaller than API but significantly bigger than the outdoor industry organizations. In the climate-change debate, advocates for the outdoors bump up against even more powerful business lobbies like the US Chamber of Commerce. For its part, the outdoor industry is trying to broaden its base of support. Venture capitalist Nancy Pfund recently helped start a group called the Conservation for Economic Growth Coalition, representing the technology industry. Patrick Von Bargen, a Washington DC government relations executive who is working on behalf of the coalition, says “the innovation economy, and the companies that comprise it, benefit enormously from accessible outdoor recreation provides”. The best and the brightest in the tech industry, he says, want to work in places with easy access to the great outdoors. In its largest advertising campaign ever, The North Face last year urged people to spend more time in beautiful places and “Never Stop Exploring.” The company commissioned the band My Morning Jacket to record “This Land Is Your Land,” the Woody Guthrie song, and donated proceeds from sales on iTunes to conservation groups. While the campaign was more commercial than political, Letitia Webster, who is global director of corporate Sustainability for VF Corp, The North Face’s parent company, told me: “We really believe in getting people passionate about the outdoors. Then they’re going to want to conserve it. They’re going to want to protect it.” The outdoor industry is well represented in Bicep, a group of companies advocating for legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Aspen Skiing Co, Burton Snowboards, Clif Bar, Nike, Patagonia, The North Face, Timberland and VF Corp all are Bicep members. Notably absent from the group, though, are airline or hotel companies, even though they, too, benefit from the outdoor economy. Airlines have invested in efficient planes to reduce their fuel costs and emissions, but they have opposed government regulation or carbon taxes. | ['sustainable-business/series/rethinking-prosperity', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'environment/environment', 'travel/skiing', 'business/business', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'travel/ethical-holidays', 'business/oilandgascompanies', 'environment/oil', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/marc-gunther'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2015-02-06T23:05:54Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2012/oct/31/sandy-climate-change-us-election | Sandy puts climate change back on the US election agenda | The images of a paralysed New York City at the mercy of Hurricane Sandy's wall of water have forced climate change on to the political agenda in the final week of the 2012 presidential election campaign. Even before Sandy made landfall political commentators were debating whether the storm would be better for Mitt Romney or Barack Obama. In any event it has brought forth statements from prominent Democrats and elected officials on climate change and spurred public debate about the neglected topic. Campaigners said the devastating storm could turn out to be the October Surprise of the elections, exposing Republicans' failure to engage with an issue that is no longer a distant threat, but a present day danger. Bill Clinton, campaigning for Barack Obama in Minnesota, attacked Romney for using climate change as a laugh line in his convention speech. "He ridiculed the president for his efforts to fight global warming in economically beneficial ways. He said, 'Oh, you're going to turn back the seas,'" Clinton told a rally. "In my part of America, we would like it if someone could've done that yesterday." He went on to argue the local leaders from both parties were already ahead of Romney and Republicans in Congress in engaging with the issue. Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, and Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, have both cited Sandy as evidence of climate change. "All up and down the east coast, there are mayors, many of them Republicans, who are being told, 'You've got to move these houses back away from the ocean. You've got to lift them up. Climate change is going to raise the water levels on a permanent basis. If you want your town insured, you have to do this,'" Clinton said. Al Gore in a statement on his website sounded a similar theme, calling for Sandy to serve as a brutal wakeup call to the realities of climate change, much as floods in Nashville hit home for him in 2010. "For many, Hurricane Sandy may prove to be a similar event: a time when the climate crisis – which is often sequestered to the far reaches of our everyday awareness became a reality," Gore wrote. "Hurricane Sandy is a disturbing sign of things to come. We must heed this warning and act quickly to solve the climate crisis. Dirty energy makes dirty weather." The Republican contender had tried to cast Obama's promise for action on global warming as a sign of grandiosity. Romney and Obama have avoided mentioning climate change on the campaign trail and the topic did not get a single mention in the televised presidential debates – for the first time since 1988.The absence has frustrated campaigners who say this year's heat waves, drought, wildfires – and now Sandy – provide ample evidence of climate change and of the urgency for action. "Climate change used to be a science of projection. Now it is a science of attribution," said Angela Anderson, climate and energy director for the Union of Concerned Scientists. She also argued the public was ahead of political leaders in engaging with the topic. "People are beginning to connect extreme weather events to climate change more and more at the same moment that there is this deafening silence, so that is incredibly disappointing." Multiple studies have linked the warming of the atmosphere and the oceans to stronger Atlantic storms – though scientists balk at attributing a single severe storm such as Sandy to climate change. "The terrifying truth is that America faces a future full of Frankenstorms," said Shaye Wolf, the climate science director for the Centre for Biological Diversity. "Climate change raises sea levels and super-sizes storms. The threat of killer winds and crushing storm surges will grow by the year unless we get serious about tackling greenhouse gas pollution." Warmer ocean temperatures add more energy to storms. Warmer air holds more moisture, which means more rainfall. Sandy dumped more than 11 inches of rain in some parts of New Jersey, according to Nasa. In addition, there is growing evidence that Americans are increasingly vulnerable to such severe events. Sea-level rise, due to climate change, makes for more extreme storm surges. And sea-level rise in the north-eastern US is occurring three or four times faster than the global average, putting more Americans in harm's way. About 100 million Americans live in coastal areas within 3ft of mean sea level in cities such as Boston and Miami as well as New York. As Mike Tidwell, the founder of Chesapeake Climate Action, wrote this week: "We are all from New Orleans now. Climate change – through the measurable rise of sea levels and a documented increase in the intensity of Atlantic storms – has made 100 million Americans virtually as vulnerable to catastrophe as the victims of Hurricane Katrina were seven years ago." | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/hurricanes', 'world/world', 'us-news/us-presidential-debates-2012', 'us-news/us-politics', 'us-news/barack-obama', 'us-news/mittromney', 'us-news/clinton', 'us-news/algore', 'us-news/democrats', 'us-news/republicans', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/suzannegoldenberg', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-31T19:56:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
media/greenslade/2014/feb/14/flooding-gannett | Gannett donates £10,000 to help Somerset flood victims | Gannett, US owner of the UK regional newspaper chain, Newsquest, has donated £10,000 to help flood victims in Somerset. HoldTheFrontPage reports that two Newsquest titles - the Somerset County Gazette and Bridgwater Mercury - handed the money to the flood relief fund set up by community leaders. The donation was made by the Gannett Foundation, the company's charitable arm. It followed pleas to the papers from flood victims. "Countless people" got in touch with the papers, said Gazette editor Alex Cameron, "asking what they can do to help people affected by the floods." Today's Gazette features a wrap-around cover picture, as above, plus eight pages of coverage inside. It followed a similar presentation in Tuesday's Bridgwater Mercury. Sources: HoldTheFrontPage/Somerset County Gazette | ['media/greenslade', 'media/media', 'tone/blog', 'tone/news', 'environment/flooding', 'media/gannett', 'media/local-newspapers', 'media/newsquest', 'uk/uk', 'media/newspapers', 'type/article', 'profile/roygreenslade'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-02-14T13:15:06Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
sustainable-business/2016/oct/26/plastics-food-packaging-microplastics-waste-ocean-pollution-compost-snact-tipa-nestle-usda | Compostable and edible packaging: the companies waging war on plastic | Last year Ilana Taub’s startup prevented more than 50 tonnes of apples, bananas, blueberries and raspberries from going to landfill by creating snacks from surplus fruit. But, says the co-founder of Snact, they kept being asked the same question: “why were we selling it in plastic packs?” The London-based company now has a solution. In partnership with Israeli packaging company Tipa, Snact has launched packaging that takes six months to break down in garden compost. “We have found a way of being disposable without causing environmental damage,” says Taub. Each year at least 8m tonnes (pdf) of plastic end up in the ocean and it is predicted that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea. “It’s crazy, when you think how much plastic has invaded our lives,” says Taub. “It’s easy and [food] safe, but not feasible in the long run. We need to find alternatives.” However, more sustainable alternatives have proved controversial. Earlier this year the UN’s chief scientist, Jacqueline McGlade, described biodegradable plastics as “well-intentioned but wrong” since those that end up the oceans do not have the right conditions to break down. Other plastics, including so-called oxo-degradables (pdf), break down into microplastics, which are also thought to be highly damaging if they find their way into the ocean. Now a new generation of plastic makers is working to tackle the global plastic waste crisis head on by developing home-compostable plastics. As well as Snact wrappers, Tipa produces zip-up bags, sold in the US, which take as little as three months to fully break down, and packaging for everything from T-shirts to Dutch carrots. The company is currently undergoing trials with several UK manufacturers. A major obstacle to the uptake of home-compostable plastics, however, is cost. “It is more expensive than traditional plastic, so tends to be used where it fits into the ethos of the product – deluxe, green or organic,” says Andy Sweetman, marketing manager at Futamura UK, which produces home-compostable NatureFlex. There is also the issue of consumer understanding and uptake. Snact’s packaging leaves consumers in no doubt with its “this bag is compostable!” messaging, but not all companies make it clear. According to Sweetman, for example, who says Futamura has hundreds of companies using its home-compostable packaging including Nestlé UK for its Quality Street wrappers, not all its customers promote the environmental credentials of their packaging. Beyond plastics you can stick on your own compost heap (or in industrial composters), manufacturers and scientists are also exploring other alternatives. US Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers recently revealed a prototype edible plastic film made from the milk protein casein which guards food against oxygen. USDA research chemical engineer Laetitia Bonnaillie says the result, for which a patent is pending, could potentially contain flavours or micronutrients in the future. Since it was announced in August, three companies have contacted Bonnaillie seeking industry trials. “The companies want to move very fast, [...] although from our experience it usually takes longer,” she says. Ultimately, tackling packaging waste is about more than just new materials, argues Rob Opsomer, who leads the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s new plastics economy drive. “Shifting towards new materials that enable recycling or composting is one of several strategies to redesign packaging applications,” says Opsomer. Even if something is biodegradable, however, we don’t want to encourage littering or mismanagement, says Jenna Jambeck, associate professor of environmental engineering at the University of Georgia: “We want all our materials kept in a circular management system to recapture the valuable resources in them.” | ['sustainable-business/series/circular-economy', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/plastic-bags', 'business/small-business', 'environment/waste', 'lifeandstyle/compost', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/environment', 'business/business', 'science/materials-science', 'science/science', 'food/food', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tone/sponsoredfeatures', 'profile/senay-boztas', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-professional-networks'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2016-10-26T10:50:15Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
science/2014/feb/21/plantwatch-peat-bogs-flood-prevention | Plantwatch: Nature's finest soakaway | Peat bogs are a remarkable way to protect against floods. They are cheap, natural and long-lasting, but there's hardly been mention of them in all the furore over how to improve the nation's flood defences. That's probably because bogs are not glamorous – but they are remarkable at soaking up water like a sponge, something like 20 times their own weight in water, capturing torrential downpours of rain and then slowly draining the water away instead of flooding rivers and surrounding land. The sponginess of bogs comes from the living moss, decaying plants and peat. And this also makes a fascinating habitat for specialised plants, such as sundew, butterwort and bladderwort, carnivorous plants which feed on small creatures to make up for the poor nutrition from the acid soil of the bogs. Bogs also help fight climate change. The plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and after they die their remains are preserved as peat in the acid waters of the bog, locking away the carbon. Over thousands of years that peat builds up into a vast store of carbon – Britain's bogs store some 5.5 billion tonnes of carbon, more than 35 times that in our forests. Britain is blessed with some of the world's finest bogs, from Dartmoor to the Outer Hebrides. But many of our boglands have been destroyed for plant compost, farmland or forestry. They need to be restored by blocking up drainage ditches and letting them fill up with water once more. | ['science/series/plantwatch', 'environment/plants', 'science/science', 'environment/environment', 'tone/features', 'environment/flooding', 'type/article', 'profile/paulsimons', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-02-21T21:31:07Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
news/2011/nov/20/weatherwatch-windmills-bread-water | Weatherwatch: An age of windmill building | Logic suggests that windmills for grinding corn (like modern wind turbines for producing electricity) would be built on hills, or where the prevailing westerly wind is funnelled across ridges and into valleys. But many that remain, either as working mills or converted into quirky dwellings, while prominent in the landscape, are obvious only because they are tall rather than on hilltops. Research shows a high proportion of windmills that were recorded but have since been demolished and disappeared were sited beside rivers. The reason is many were also close to water mills, and owned by the same milling families who were often the local bakers. Bread was the staple diet for centuries and ensuring regular supplies of flour for the average consumption of two loaves for each person a week was vital. Many water mills were sited on relatively small streams so in times of drought milling would have been impossible – hence the insurance of having a windmill nearby, or in rare cases even part of the same building. There was another rash of windmill building near existing water mills in the early 19th century when canals were being constructed. Canals diverted vital water resources needed for milling to replenish locks, causing many legal disputes between millers and canal companies. As the industrial revolution progressed millers realised water and wind could be replaced or supplemented by steam power and the age of windmill building ended. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'tone/features', 'environment/water', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/paulbrown', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-11-20T22:30:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2016/may/12/offshore-windfarms-operator-dong-energy-plan-float | Windfarm operator Dong Energy announces stockmarket plans | Dong Energy, the Danish company that has invested £6bn in UK offshore wind power, is planning to float in what would be one of Europe’s biggest listings this year. Dong is already the single largest investor in UK offshore wind projects and plans a further £5bn of spending over the next five years. The state-owned utility said it intended to launch an initial public offering (IPO) on Nasdaq Copenhagen, but would not comment on the potential valuation of the company. However, analysts estimated it could be valued at about 80bn Danish kroner (£8.5bn), making it Denmark’s largest ever flotation. “Barring unforeseen circumstances and subject to prevailing market conditions, the IPO could be launched for a listing in summer 2016,” the company said in a statement on Thursday. Dong employs 700 people in Britain, where its assets include the 175-turbine London Array windfarm off the Kent coast, which was the world’s biggest windfarm when it was built in 2012. The company has also committed to the Hornsea One facility, off the east Yorkshire coast, which will be the largest offshore windfarm when it is completed in 2020. Some analysts have put the cost at up to £3bn. Dong said its UK windfarms meet the electricity needs of 2m homes, which will rise to 3.3m when projects under construction are operational. It is in the process of transforming itself from a high- to low-carbon power producer, and its chief executive, Henrik Poulsen, said the flotation was a “stepping stone” in that process. He said: “We have a robust and highly visible build-out plan for offshore wind, which will deliver strong and profitable growth in the coming years. “The planned IPO will create a strong platform for Dong Energy as we continue to lead the transformation of the energy system.” If the IPO goes ahead as planned, Dong said shareholders would sell about 15% of the existing shares. The Danish government – a majority shareholder with almost 59% – will sell part of its stake but maintain a 50.1% share of the business. Poulsen said: “The IPO will raise the profile of the company, not only locally but globally. We’ll have a much more diverse global investor base.” The company will not issue any new share capital as part of the IPO. Claus Hjort Frederiksen, Denmark’s finance minister, said: “We are proud of Dong Energy’s development in renewable energy and its contribution to a sustainable future. “The IPO has the support of a broad majority in parliament, and we look forward to following the company’s continued journey as a listed company.” | ['business/ipos', 'environment/windpower', 'business/business', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'world/denmark', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'business/stock-markets', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/angela-monaghan', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/windpower | ENERGY | 2016-05-12T14:20:12Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2015/may/25/texas-oklahoma-storms-flooding-tornadoes | Texas storms: flooding had 'tsunami-type power', says governor | Texas governor Greg Abbott has expanded the emergency disaster zone in his state, adding 24 counties to a list of 13 affected by storms and flooding. Three people were reported dead and 12 missing as Oklahoma was also hit hard, while a tornado left 13 dead in a Mexican town just beyond the border. Abbott said the damage caused by flash floods in central Texas was “absolutely devastating” and had been caused by “relentless, tsunami-type power”. The 12 people missing were from two families staying together in one house in Wimberley Valley, in Texas. Bert Cobb, a Hays County judge, said witnesses reported seeing the house pushed off its foundations by rushing water. He said only pieces of the house had been found, and that one person rescued from the home told workers about the other people inside. At least 2,000 Texas residents were forced out of their homes. The central part of the state was particularly hard hit, especially San Marcos and Wimberley, near the Blanco river – which was measured at 40ft, the highest it had reached since 2010. Hays County’s emergency management coordinator, Kharley Smith, estimated that 350 to 400 homes in Wimberley had been destroyed. Severe storms brought heavy rain to the Houston area. Harris County Flood control advised residents waking up for work and school on Tuesday morning not to leave their homes. In Mexico, 13 people died when a tornado hit the border city of Ciudad Acuña at around 6.40am on Monday. Photos from the scene showed cars with their hoods ripped off, resting upended against single-storey houses. One car’s frame was bent around the gate of a house. A bus was flipped and crumpled on a roadway. In the US, storms covered land from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes over Memorial Day weekend. Oklahoma and Texas bore the brunt of the damage. Forecasters predicted more moderate storms, but already overwhelmed waterways and saturated grounds were more vulnerable to lighter weather conditions. The weather could also affect recovery and rescue missions. At least three American residents died in the storms. In Oklahoma, firefighter Jason Farley died after being swept into a storm drain while attempting to evacuate residents. A Tulsa woman died in a weather-related traffic accident. Texas officials confirmed that one person died in San Marcos, though it was not clear how. May is now the rainiest month on record in Oklahoma. Albert Ashwood, the state’s emergency management department director, warned about damage to roadways and cautioned against using the streets during a popular weekend for travel. “This is a holiday weekend, and Oklahomans want to get out and observe their Memorial Day traditions, but we are asking everyone to please exercise extreme caution in doing so,” Ashwood told the Oklahoman newspaper. In Johnson County, just outside Dallas, residents grappled with the third large flood in four weeks that have also included the region’s largest earthquake and a mile-wide tornado. Jamie Moore, the county’s emergency management coordinator, said the weather events were unprecedented in the area’s history. “People who lived here their entire lives can’t remember a spring like this,” the Dallas Morning News. | ['world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/texas', 'environment/flooding', 'world/tornadoes', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/oklahoma', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/amanda-holpuch'] | world/tornadoes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2015-05-26T06:31:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2011/mar/11/japan-earthquake-miyagi-tsunami-warning | Powerful earthquakes hit Japan | A series of massive earthquakes have struck north-east Japan, unleashing a 10-metre tsunami that swept buildings, vehicles, crops and debris across swaths of farmland. The first 8.9 magnitude shock is said to be the biggest to have hit Japan in 140 years, rocking buildings 235 miles (380km) away in Tokyo and sparking fires. At least five people are known to have died, but amid widespread reports of landslides, floods, collapsed buildings and fires, the death toll is expected to rise. The quake hit at 2.46pm (5.45am GMT), about 6 miles below sea level and 78 miles off the east coast. It was swiftly followed by five powerful aftershocks of up to 7.1 magnitude. In Tokyo people screamed and grabbed each other's hands as the quake struck. The shock was so powerful it was felt as far away as Beijing. Television footage showed a 4-metre tsunami sweeping over embankments in Sendai city, bearing cars and houses – some on fire – across farmland, before reversing course and carrying them out to sea. Public broadcaster NHK showed images of a large ship ramming into a breakwater in Kennuma city, Miyagi prefecture. The quake and tsunami halted air and rail services across large parts of the country. Eight military planes were scrambled to survey the damage as areas along Japan's entire Pacific coast braced for aftershocks and the possibility of more tsunami. The Pacific tsunami warning centre in Hawaii said a warning was in effect for Japan, Russia, Marcus Island and the Northern Marianas. Tsunami watches have been issued for Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hawaii and the entire western coast of the US and Canada, from the Mexican border to Chignik Bay in Alaska. The Japanese prime minister, Naoto Kan, promised a quick response as he called an emergency cabinet meeting. "The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Kan said during an emergency news conference. "Some of the nuclear power plant in the region have automatically shut down, but there is no leakage of radioactive materials to the environment." The shutdown left 4m homes in and around Tokyo without power. Kan said he had set up an emergency taskforce to co-ordinate the rescue effort. "The government will make an all-out effort to ensure the safety of all the people and contain the damage to the minimum," he said. Junichi Sawada, an official with Japan's fire and disaster management agency, said: "This is a rare, major quake, and damages could quickly rise by the minute." Fire department officials in Osaki, Miyagi prefecture, said at least 20 people had been injured by falling objects, with some reportedly trapped under debris. At least 10 people were injured when part of a hall roof collapsed in Tokyo, the metropolitan police department said. All flights were grounded immediately after the quake while officials checked for runway damage. Strong tremors were felt in Tokyo about 30 minutes after the quake. Newsreaders in the capital wore helmets as they gave updates, while office workers rushed out of buildings and on to the streets for safety. Osamu Akiya, 46, was working at his Tokyo office when the quake hit, sending bookshelves and other items flying and opening up cracks in the wall. "I've been through many earthquakes, but I've never felt anything like this," he said. "I don't know if we'll be able to get home tonight." Television footage showed a building on fire in the Odaiba district of Tokyo, although it was not immediately clear if the blaze was connected to the earthquake. Another fire was seen burning out of control at the at Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara, in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo. Water levels rose quickly in the coastal town of Miyako in Iwate prefecture, while vehicles, houses and buildings were swept away by the tsunami in Onahama city, Fukushima prefecture. TV news presenters repeatedly warned people along the Pacific coast to head for higher ground. The quake is one of several to have struck north-east Japan this week, including one of magnitude 7.3 on Wednesday. In 1933, a magnitude 8.1 quake in the area killed more than 3,000 people. Last year fishing facilities were damaged by a tsunami caused by a strong quake in Chile. Japan is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, accounting for about 20% of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater. | ['world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami', 'world/japan', 'world/natural-disasters', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/tsunamis', 'type/article', 'profile/justinmccurry', 'profile/taniabranigan'] | world/tsunamis | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-03-11T09:11:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
politics/2014/dec/01/miners-strike-taxi-driver-killed-1984 | Taxi driver killed by striking miners: from the archive, 1 December 1984 | Two striking miners were last night charged with the murder of a taxi driver who was taking a miner to work at Merthyr Vale colliery in Mid-Glamorgan. The two men were Mr Reginald Dean Hancock, aged 21, of Rhymney Bridge, Rhymney, Mid-Glamorgan, and Mr Russell Shankland, 20, of Manest Street, Rhymney. Both men are single. Merthyr police said last night they would appear this morning before a specially convened magistrates’ court. A third person was last night still helping police with their inquiries. Mr David Wilkie, aged 35, was killed when a concrete block and a four foot long concrete post were dropped on his car from a bridge 20 feet above the A465 Heads of the Valleys road near Merthyr Tydfil. The taxi went out of control and crashed into an embankment. Both missiles hit the car, which was in a police convoy, and the concrete block, measuring 18 inches by 9 inches, smashed the windscreen and pinned Mr Wilkie to his seat. He sustained multiple injuries and was dead on arrival at hospital. The working miner in the back of the taxi, Mr David Williams, aged 35, was unhurt. The Chief Constable of South Wales, Mr David East, later told a press conference at Merthyr police station: ‘This is not industrial action. This is not picketing. This is murder. Whoever threw those things down must have known the likely consequences.’ He recalled that in September the assistant chief constable, Mr Viv Brook, had warned that someone would be killed if pickets continued throwing pieces of concrete from motorway bridges. Striking miners had then been attempting to stop convoys of lorries taking coal to Llanwern steelworks. ‘The style of attack today is similar,’ Mr East said, ‘but with any inquiry you must keep an open mind.’ Twenty-eight policemen have been injured in clashes involving hundreds of police and pickets at the colliery, where two men have been reporting for work for a fortnight. This is an edited extract. Click here to read full article Dean Hancock and Russell Shankland were convicted of Wilkie’s murder at Cardiff crown court. On appeal, the convictions were reduced to manslaughter and they were released in November 1989, five years after the killing. | ['politics/miners-strike-1984-85', 'theguardian/series/from-the-archive', 'environment/coal', 'uk/uk', 'politics/past', 'uk/ukcrime', 'type/article', 'profile/sarahboseley'] | environment/coal | ENERGY | 2014-12-01T05:30:03Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2019/apr/24/harbour-porpoises-needlessly-dying-uk-waters-says-wwf | Harbour porpoises needlessly dying in UK waters, says WWF | More than 1,000 harbour porpoises are needlessly dying in UK waters each year, according to a report from a global environmental organisation. The study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says the small porpoises are accidentally trapped in fishermen’s nets, causing them to suffocate and die. It has highlighted three hotspots – the south-west and south-east of England and the waters off Shetland, north-east of the Scottish mainland – and is calling for action to address the crisis. WWF, which has produced the report with the Sky Ocean Rescue campaign, said gill nets (a wall of netting that traps fish by the gills) were killing the porpoises. It said other methods of fishing should be introduced and better monitoring set up. Helen McLachlan, the charity’s fisheries programme manager, said: “The tragic deaths of harbour porpoises are a national scandal that can no longer be ignored. Many Brits will be horrified to learn of the scale of the issue and shocked that these beautiful mammals could be dying in the very nets used to catch the fish on their dinner plates. We desperately need to take action now to protect and restore nature. “We need to see governments step up and work with the fishing industry to introduce effective mitigation or new capture methods that don’t harm porpoises or other marine wildlife. They also need to open up the secretive world of our fisheries by putting in place effective monitoring so that by-catch deaths no longer go unreported.” The UK is home to about 177,000 harbour porpoises and has globally important areas for both feeding and breeding. According to the report, which draws on a number of academic papers, in 2017 between 587 and 2,615 porpoises were killed, with the best estimate put at 1,098, about three a day. The figures are partly based on data recorded by observers on board a number of boats. This figure has then been used to estimate the number of harbour porpoises accidentally caught by the whole fleet. But the WWF says the real figure may be even higher as it does not take into account nets laid by smaller boats and the number of dead porpoises that can drop out of the net as it is hauled in. The geographical hotspots where the number of deaths are particularly high include Cornwall, Kent, Sussex and the waters west of Shetland. The WWF says the areas are rich in marine life, which attracts both high numbers of porpoises and gill-net fisheries. The charity said the UK was complying with obligations under EU regulations in relation to harbour porpoise by-catch in gill nets. However, it has called for alternatives to gill nets, such as hooks and hand lines for catching some species – rather than relying on methods such as “pingers”, acoustic devices designed to send a signal to divert an animal away from a net. The WWF said effective monitoring was urgently needed, such as remote electronic monitoring, to supplement onboard checks. | ['environment/porpoises', 'environment/cetaceans', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/environment', 'environment/wwf', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/stevenmorris', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/marine-life | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-04-24T06:00:22Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
lifeandstyle/2017/sep/30/jacob-kenedy-chef-kitchen-interview | Chef Jacob Kenedy: ‘I do a lot of cooking at home and I never lost my passion for it' | A cook’s kitchen | I live above Plaquemine Lock – my pub-turned-Southern restaurant in Islington. I was born here, opposite the pub on Noel Road, on the other side of the canal, but am newly returned. I didn’t think I’d ever been here when it was still a working pub, but my childhood au pair visited from Israel after we’d just opened and said she used to bring me in here for tea in the pram after a morning walk. So the whole thing feels quite serendipitous. I’d been nursing the idea of a Louisiana-style restaurant for a few years, and when the pub came up, it fell into place. There’s no style of food that goes quite so well with alcoholic drinks as Cajun and Creole, and we’re right by the water here, which feels fitting ... I commissioned Darwen Terracotta, a British company specialising in faience – glazed ceramic tiles that are moulded to buildings – to do the cladding for the pub exterior. They have an amazing catalogue of glaze recipes, so we got this bold, and splashy splashback for the flat while we were at it. It’s an investment in our happiness – and in British workers in some measure, who deserve our support. It sits on the back of the chimney breast and I love it. It’s really important to me to have as big a work surface as possible. That in turn needed a big – but not flashy – light. Mine is a simple ring of LEDs, a design called Doppio, by German lighting firm Sattler. The moka coffee pot to my left is an Alessi Pulcina. It makes delicious coffee (I just use Lavazza espresso) and it means I don’t use Nespresso capsules, which, convenient as they are, are horribly wasteful. I do a lot of cooking at home and I never lost my passion for it. A week rarely goes by that we don’t entertain. The kitchen is the heart of the home and it’s only really beating when you’re cooking in it. This is how I justified the Wolf cooker, which is huge and expensive, but pretty incredible to use. My favourite thing to work with in the kitchen is dough. I learned to hand-roll pasta at a trattoria called Anna-Maria in Bologna, using a very very long rolling pin like this one I am holding. The two enamelware vessels are my favourite pots. I use the orange one, passed down through my family, for stocks, lobster and large amounts of pasta. The other, yellow one by my left hand I use for stews, casseroles, even pies without the lid. It’s a 1950s a Creuset called Le Coquelle – an aspirational design, I think. It’s got hope in it, and we need hope these days. Jacob Kenedy is a London-based chef, cookery author and restaurateur; @JacobKenedy | ['food/food', 'food/chefs', 'tone/features', 'technology/gadgets', 'lifeandstyle/series/a-cooks-kitchen', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'type/article', 'profile/mina-holland', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/cook', 'theguardian/cook/cook', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/cook'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2017-09-30T09:00:29Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
uk-news/2014/jan/07/severe-weather-warnings-remain-uk-coast-storm | Flooding risk remains as more heavy rain is forecast for UK | Large parts of Britain remain at risk of further flooding this week as forecasters warned of more heavy rain. The Met Office has extended its severe weather alert until Thursday morning, warning that the already saturated ground and swollen rivers in the south of England and Wales might not cope with more rain. The yellow warning – the lowest of the Met Office's three levels – forecasts "periods of heavy rain" in the south-west of England and Wales for Wednesday and into Thursday with 30mm to 40mm falling in the wettest spots. Three severe weather warnings, signalling danger to life, remain in place in Dorset as waves and strong winds continue to batter coastal regions of the UK. The warnings were for Preston beach, Lower Stour and Chiswell, where the Environment Agency sounded its flood siren warning of extreme danger to people and property on Monday night after the sea breached Chesil beach and spray crashed over flood defences. Dorset police warned residents to move to an upstairs room facing away from the sea and told those who had been evacuated not to return to their homes. More than 100 flood warnings, signalling immediate action required, are in place, including in Dorset, Oxfordshire, south Wiltshire, Hampshire and along the river Thames, while more than 195 low-level alerts have been issued. The Met Office said heavy showers, some of them combined with hail and thunder, would continue to affect parts of southern England at times throughout Tuesday and early on Wednesday. A spokesman said: "Further bands of showers running into southern counties have the potential to produce intense bursts of rain, these quickly leading to localised impacts given the very saturated ground. Hail will be an additional hazard associated with some of the heaviest showers." On Monday, Labour accused the environment secretary, Owen Paterson, of buck passing after he said the government was working closely with local councils, the insurance industry and others, to ensure that people affected by flooding could quickly get the help they needed. Friends of the Earth have challenged the government's claim that it has presided over an increase in spending on flood defences, claiming that analysis of figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs showed a drop. Coastlines in southern England and Wales were particularly badly affected by the latest band of storms. Flooding in the Somerset Levels had left villages cut off, damaged roads and buildings, and waves of up to 27ft were recorded at Land's End, the most westerly point of England. In Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, residents of seafront properties along the promenade were again evacuated to a rest centre at a local school. The Thames barrier was closed on Tuesday for the 11th consecutive day, approaching the record number of consecutive closures, which was 14 in January 2003. Searches involving more than 100 volunteers are continuing in south Devon for missing university student Harry Martin, who was last seen leaving his home to take photographs of the weather. Devon and Cornwall police said a 20-mile stretch of coastline, 10 miles either side of the 18-year-old's home at Newton Ferrers, had been extensively searched as well as inland areas. Seven people have died and more than 1,700 homes and businesses have been flooded in England since the beginning of the Christmas period, with 300 properties flooded since the new year. Some 140 properties have been flooded in Wales. | ['uk/weather', 'uk/uk', 'uk/wales', 'tone/news', 'environment/flooding', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/haroonsiddique', 'profile/matthewweaver', 'profile/benquinn', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories'] | environment/flooding | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-01-07T20:31:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk-news/davehillblog/2014/apr/25/boris-johnson-london-traffic-congestion | Boris Johnson's transport planners forecast soaring London road congestion | Dave Hill | Boris Johnson's transport policies will fail to prevent huge increases in road traffic congestion across London in the coming years according to research by his own transport agency. Transport for London has concluded that by 2031 congestion in central London will have worsened by 60% even if Johnson's entire transport strategy investment programme is implemented and augmented with further short-term measures. Congestion in inner London is projected to rise by 25% and in outer London by 15%. A paper containing a summary of the research was presented to the TfL board's surface transport panel earlier this month. It says a range of "easier" options that might lessen congestion, including greater use of traffic control technology, attempts to change people's travel habits and further public transport investment, would be "insufficiently effective by themselves to hold congestion at today's levels and will in fact only provide a few years of mitigation". The research, which was conducted for TfL's planning chief Michelle Dix and presented to a gathering of London business and local authority representatives in March, was undertaken after the launch last year of the report of the Johnson's roads task force (RTF), which set out a vision for "world class roads and streets" in the capital. It highlights further pressures on the road network from population growth higher than previously forecast and "aspirations for a better city" such as better conditions for cycling and walking and "inclusive places and new city destinations". TfL has doubled its current road improvement spending to £4b in line with the mayor's priorities. Additional TfL studies have now been embarked on to seek ways of addressing the escalating congestion problem. These will assess the impact of major redevelopment schemes on the capital's inner ring road, the potential of greater use of car sharing clubs, ways of lessening the contribution of freight transport to congestion and the provision of new, tolled tunnels and "flyunders". Delivering the recommendations of these studies in order to realise the RTF vision over a 20-year period would require "much more" funding than the £30b currently estimated especially if new tunnels are to be included according to the TfL paper, which also says that "more "radical demand management measures" will be looked at "if necessary" though these don't seem to include additional congestion charging. The mayor's office says "There are no plans to expand the congestion charging zone." Johnson greatly reduced congestion charging in the capital, which was introduced to the capital by his predecessor Ken Livingstone, halving the overall charging zone in December 2010 at a cost of at least £55m in annual revenue according to TfL figures at the time. The mayor increased the daily charge for the surviving, original central zone from £8 to £10 (or £9 under the automatic payment system) in January 2011 and is expected to increase it again in the summer, potentially raising an additional £84m by the end of 2017/18. A separate paper presented to the surface transport panel reported that during the second half of 2013/14 road network conditions had become particularly challenging, with increased demand apparently linked to the economic recovery. Johnson's political opponents have seized on the congestion forecasts to attack his transport strategy as a whole, published in 2010, which anticipated an increase in vehicle delay across Greater London of up to 14% by 2031 and said that congestion cost London an estimated £2b a year in lost economic productivity (see pages 151-161). Liberal Democrat London Assembly transport spokesperson Caroline Pidgeon described the new congestion forecasts as "simply horrific" and said Johnson should "prioritise buses and cyclists in the centre of the capital" instead of "pandering to everyone and ultimately failing everyone". She also called for the congestion charge to be updated annually, as public transport fares are, and levied at different levels at different times of day. Labour's Val Shawcross, who chairs the assembly's transport committee, called the projections "shocking" yet unsurprising in view of what she deems Johnson's encouragement of private car use with measures to smooth the flow of road traffic, reluctant congestion charge increases and "disincentivising bus use by failing to expand it or prioritise road space for it. He has dropped the baton in terms of having a coherent transport programme". Jenny Jones of the Greens, the only party represented at City Hall advocating an expansion of congestion charging, said that both TfL and Johnson have "failed to learn the lessons of Ken Livingstone's time as mayor when he succeeded in reducing traffic rather than allowing it to surge upwards. The past six years of speeding up traffic, keeping the congestion charge too low, and a flimsy excuse for a cycling and walking revolution, will mean a worse London for all of us, including from air pollution". | ['uk/davehillblog', 'tone/blog', 'politics/boris-johnson', 'politics/politics', 'politics/london', 'uk/london', 'travel/london', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/liberaldemocrats', 'politics/labour', 'politics/green-party', 'environment/green-politics', 'environment/environment', 'politics/congestioncharging', 'politics/transport', 'uk/transport', 'environment/travel-and-transport', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'profile/davehill'] | environment/green-politics | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2014-04-25T05:45:00Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
commentisfree/2012/oct/31/mayor-michael-bloomberg-resilience-new-york | Michael Bloomberg: at last a real mayor, not CEO, of New York | Jason Farago | New York is battered, paralyzed, partially drowned. But Mike Bloomberg, who has not always performed well in moments of crisis, is still standing. Our eternal mayor spent the weekend calmly preparing the city for this dreadful storm, a beacon of seriousness amid the media alarmism. And at 10.30am on Monday night, while half of Manhattan went without power, there he was at the office of emergency management, praising New Yorkers for working together and insisting: "We'll get through this the way we always do." I have never been an admirer of Mike Bloomberg. He should not even be in office for this extra, legal third term, and his post-9/11, get-rich-quick administration has continuously eroded the civic connections he extolled last night. But in the midst of disaster, and with other regional politicians desperate to appear in charge and on camera, Bloomberg's deliberate, unprepossessing governance has been a massive relief. Alongside a team of public officials, he has detailed everything from the height of the waters to the state of the power grid, and when reporters have asked him for impossible statements about the cost of the disaster or the second that transport will resume, he's brushed them off with an understandable exasperation. Prognostication is not his job. Whatever Mitt Romney has claimed about privatizing Fema, a storm like this makes even the most corporatist figures value our public services and the unique abilities they have to put things right. And while Bloomberg has rarely shown respect for the public sector, these past few days have been different. The transit authority, the emergency services, the school system, the parks department: Bloomberg has gone out of his way to work with them, and, at last, after a whole decade, he's acting like a mayor rather than a CEO. Elsewhere in the region, our politicians are playing to type. Cory Booker, the showboating mayor of Newark, deluged Twitter last night with promises to come pick up individual Newark residents, like some governmental carpool mom, or else regurgitated treacly stiff-upper-lip Victorian verse – the same verse, I can't help but mention, that the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh chose as his final testament. Or else there was Chris Christie, wearing a custom "Chris Christie: Governor" fleece and angry as usual, who berated New Jerseyans who'd stayed in their homes as "selfish and stupid". Luckily, some adviser told him not to scare off the children: Christie promised that, if conditions warranted, he would sign an executive order to reschedule Halloween. Dannel Malloy, the Connecticut governor, had warned of "catastrophe" and issued "a Katrina-like warning" Monday. And New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo – a man with keener presidential ambitions than even his New Jersey counterpart – was down at the World Trade Center site last night, desperate to project first-responder machismo. Bloomberg, by contrast, stuck to the facts. He understood that real reassurance comes not from TV or Twitter antics, but from seeing government in action. The real challenge starts now. The New York subway system, over a century old, has experienced its worst disaster in history; if trains are running later this week, it'll be a miracle. Power could be out for days. Parts of Manhattan are underwater, while in Queens, homes have been washed away or have gone up in flames. What matters now is not only that New York recovers, but that the recovery takes place on an equal plane. Socially and economically, this is a city divided; we lavish money and attention on the most prosperous neighborhoods while peripheral sections fray and fester. You can already feel that in the media coverage. Whole neighborhoods of outer Brooklyn and Queens have been devastated, but what are the two emblems of this storm so far? A flooded carousel designed by one of the world's richest architects, and a crane alongside the most expensive residential building in the country. The majority of the city, and their suffering, is already at risk of being forgotten. We have been here once before, however. In his 11 long years in office, perhaps no moment has shamed Mike Bloomberg more than his response to the 2010 blizzard, when Fifth Avenue got ploughed immediately, but the less prosperous neighborhoods suffered for a week or more. It was deplorable. The press flayed him for the unequal response, and Bloomberg's ratings dove; they have barely recovered since. That blizzard, sad to say, now looks like nothing more than a test run for the real crisis of Bloomberg's mayoralty. When Hurricane Irene threatened New York last year, Bloomberg was keen to avoid the mistakes he'd made during the snowstorm. During that hurricane, Bloomberg showed that he would not be rumbled twice. Now, the disaster is really here. The recovery is going to be grim, arduous and very expensive. So, here are some words I never thought I'd write, and doubt I'll have occasion to again: right now, I am glad that Mike Bloomberg is in charge. | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'us-news/michaelbloomberg', 'tone/comment', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/us-politics', 'us-news/new-york', 'us-news/hurricane-irene', 'us-news/hurricane-sandy', 'us-news/chris-christie', 'type/article', 'profile/jasonfarago'] | us-news/hurricane-sandy | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2012-10-31T11:45:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2022/aug/07/low-traffic-schemes-are-driving-congestion-and-pollution | Low-traffic schemes are driving congestion and pollution | Letters | George Monbiot overplays the delights of the community effect of low-traffic neighbourhoods in Oxford and underplays their disadvantages (Ignore the culture warriors – low traffic neighbourhoods don’t close streets, they liberate them, 3 August). Those living in the arterial roads, which now contain higher volumes of traffic often at a standstill, are experiencing high levels of pollution. Small businesses are closing because customer access has become difficult and suppliers cannot reach them in a timely way. Taxi drivers need to take circuitous routes to deliver passengers. Those who need to drive cars or vans because of disability or for work are experiencing huge detours and delays. Buses cannot keep to their timetables so bus journeys are unreliable and less pleasant. Measures have been put in place to promote cycling, but nothing has been done for pedestrians. The pavements remain uneven and hazardous. No additional seating has been provided for those needing a rest. At a recent council meeting where the Cowley LTNs were confirmed, there was little sign of meaningful debate. My letters to councillors have mostly gone unanswered. Residents are desperate and frustrated. Hilary Walker Oxford • Oxfordshire county council seems to have a modern-day stance on George Orwell’s Animal Farm: four wheels bad, two wheels or legs good. In the eastern Oxford suburb of Cowley, where three major LTN schemes were enforced, there was very little consultation, and a majority of those in the affected areas voted against the proposals. LTNs have simply moved congestion and pollution from one set of roads to another. What seems like a good idea on paper has been atrociously implemented, against the will of the majority of residents. I have witnessed no increase in the number of children playing in the LTN streets. Simon Jones Oxford • George Monbiot suggests that “there could scarcely be a more reasonable policy” than introducing LTNs – not for disabled people like me who have serious mobility difficulties and are reliant on our cars for independence, working and raising families and contributing to society. In defiance of the public sector equality duty, I’m not aware of my local council carrying out any consultation before implementing a trial of LTNs. If it had consulted us properly, we would have told them that “people-friendly streets” are not helpful for wheelchair users like me and other disabled people. My council is supposed to be planning “exceptional exemptions” for blue badge holders. Two years on, we are still waiting. And it won’t help me as I live one road away from what the council is calling “boundary roads”. What used to be a three-minute journey to Highbury Corner in Islington, north London, can now take up to 40. Along this short route there are three schools and colleges, and much social housing and shops, which now have to deal with constant bumper to bumper traffic. Taxis are no longer willing to pick up disabled people who live in or near our LTN. What disabled people want is to be listened to and reasonable adjustments made to policy, including proper exemptions for blue badge holders. Lois Keith London • I live in a low-traffic zone in Hackney, east London. Before it was implemented, a small minority fought hard to have it stopped. The arrival of LTNs signals a seismic shift in thinking. No longer does the convenience of a few override the needs of the many. As I walked my dog in the evening, a neighbour’s child was hitting a tennis ball against a wall. It was the first time I had seen this in more than 30 years. It gives me hope that maybe we have finally turned a corner. Alun Gordon London • Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication. | ['environment/travel-and-transport', 'environment/pollution', 'world/road-transport', 'environment/environment', 'society/localgovernment', 'politics/politics', 'society/society', 'uk/oxford', 'society/communities', 'type/article', 'tone/letters', 'uk-news/low-traffic-neighbourhoods', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-08-07T15:56:48Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
lifeandstyle/2015/may/13/never-clear-out-your-kitchen-cupboard-jay-rayner | Rules for a happy life: never look under a teenager’s bed and never clear out your kitchen cupboard | Recently, the Yorkshire based herb-and-spice company Steenbergs held a competition to find the oldest unused packet of spices in anybody’s cupboard. The winner: a pot of Sainsbury’s pickling spices bought in 1975 for 19p. Clearly we should celebrate such Olympic standard procrastination. I’m sure they were planning to get round to their brilliant home-pickling project, just as soon as they had rearranged the cutlery drawer. But for me that response was overlaid by something else: recognition. For, purely by coincidence, while Steenbergs was encouraging the nation to excavate their kitchen cabinets, we were also giving our own walk-in larder a clean out. I say “we”. It was entirely my wife’s doing. I was minded to let sleeping condiments lie. Two of my unbending rules for a happy life: never look under a teenager’s bed and never, ever mess with the kitchen cupboards. But she was determined. And so the great work began. I stood by and watched as the kitchen surfaces were quickly covered with a Manhattan of bottles and jars of ancient vintage. This brought me face to face with all my unrealised ambitions as a domestic cook. My desire to be an endlessly inventive kitchen warrior with a seemingly boundless repertoire, piled up unceremoniously before me. There were the jars of buttercup-yellow preserved lemons, and the dinky pots of harissa paste, the colour of coagulating blood, from the period when I was determined to explore the wilder shores of the Levantine culinary tradition. There were things called “marmalade” which didn’t involve oranges, and pitch-black pastes made from damsons which I seem to recall needing for my home experiments in neo-rustic British nose-to-tail eating. And don’t get me started on the Asian stuff: the fermented bean pastes with endless permutations of chilli and dried shrimp; the misos of ever darkening shades; the rice wines and soys and vinegars. Some of these had been opened. I peered inside to find a few with a deep dimple where I had sampled this new genius purchase, and then realised I didn’t have a clue what to do with it. Others had developed furry moulds so thick I didn’t know whether to scoop them out or stroke them and get them baptised. And then there were those – oh the shame – where the seal hadn’t even broken. I should beat myself up here over the disgusting waste, and I do. It doesn’t matter how long it takes to throw something away: waste is still waste. But even more than that I mourn all those dishes that could have been. They were not undermined by lack of ingredients. I reckon I had even accumulated the makings for a couple of Yotam Ottolenghi’s simpler recipes. They were undermined by lack of commitment. I’m sure when I bought the myriad jars I meant it. I really was going to become a different kind of cook. I really was going to stop making the same old things. But I was going to become that different cook tomorrow. Or perhaps the day after that. Or next week. And all of a sudden it’s six years later and you can’t find the Marmite for the tubs of ras el hanout spice mix. But this has stiffened my resolve. I will do better. I will be a more adventurous cook. And I will start all this a week next Thursday. What’s the oldest product you’ve found in the back of your cupboards? Let us know in the comments below | ['food/series/happy-eater', 'food/food', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'tone/features', 'environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'profile/jayrayner', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/foodmonthly', 'theobserver/foodmonthly/features'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2015-05-13T11:00:09Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
australia-news/2023/feb/03/nsw-irrigator-hit-with-350000-fine-for-water-theft-offences | NSW irrigator hit with $350,000 fine for water theft offences | A Moree Plains irrigator has been ordered to pay a record $350,000 in fines after pleading guilty to knowingly taking water, using an under-recording meter system and constructing an unlawful dam. It is the first time a “tier one” offence has been successfully prosecuted by the Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR). NRAR alleged Henry Payson Pty Ltd knowingly took water while its metering equipment was not working, as well as building and using a 610ML dam without approval. On Tuesday, the New South Wales land and environment court convicted the company of four water offences dating back to 2016. The company was fined $353,750, plus costs of $2,374. But the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) said the Moree floodplain water-theft ruling highlighted the urgent need to review penalties for unlawfully extracting water. “While the successful prosecution of these instances of water theft are welcome, the inadequacy of penalties for these offences needs prompt review,” EDO lawyer Andrew Kwan said. “On its face, $353,000 sounds like a decent fine but it is just 5% of the maximum penalty that was available,” he said. The company committed the offences at a property called Binneguy Station, 38km east of Moree in northern NSW. Of the 1,500 hectares (3,706 acres), 152 are used to grow crops irrigated from the Gwydir River, which include cotton. The NRAR director of investigations and enforcement, Lisa Stockley, said the case is significant because it’s the largest combined fine handed down in a land and environment court prosecution since NRAR started in 2018. “But also it’s the first tier one offence that we’ve successfully prosecuted,” she said. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter Under the NSW Water Management Act, Stockley said a tier one offence relates to “intentional, negligent or reckless conduct” and has “more serious penalties”. The four water offences carried a potential maximum penalty of more than $6m. NRAR said expert evidence found approximately 1,418ML of water was taken above what was recorded by the meter during the offending period. That is equivalent to more than 560 olympic-sized swimming pools. In their investigation, Stockley said an expert used crop growth information and satellite imagery to estimate how much water would have been needed to grow the crops during that time. Dr Wayne Meyer, who is an adjunct professor of natural resource science at the University of Adelaide, identified that 2,750ML would have been needed to sustain the crops over the entire offending period. “When you compare that to the meter reading, that’s 1.8 times more than what was recorded on the meter,” Stockley said. The court fined the company $175,000 for 12 instances of knowingly taking water while metering equipment was not working between July 2016 and June 2017, and another $125,000 for 27 instances between July 2017 and June 2018. For constructing and using a dam without approval, the company was fined $53,750. Henry Payson Pty Ltd will pay NRAR’s legal costs, which have yet to be determined, and a further $2,374 to cover the cost of NRAR’s investigation. Stockley said their investigation focused on the offence of knowingly taking water while metre equipment wasn’t working between June 2016-17 and June 2017-18. In her judgment handed down this week, Justice Rachel Pepper said she was “satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Payson knowingly took water while the meter was under-recording”, and the company’s actions “deliberately deceived the regulator” about the amount of water pumped from the Gwydir River. Stockley said NRAR has only been in existence for five years, during which they have brought in 36 prosecutions to the state’s environment or local court in relation to water law offences, compared with 23 in the 18 years prior. Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter Join the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the community | ['australia-news/series/the-rural-network', 'environment/water', 'science/agriculture', 'environment/farming', 'australia-news/rural-australia', 'environment/environment', 'campaign/email/the-rural-network', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'science/science', 'australia-news/new-south-wales', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'australia-news/series/rural-network', 'profile/fleur-connick', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/the-rural-network'] | environment/farming | BIODIVERSITY | 2023-02-02T14:00:06Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
news/2005/sep/11/leaders.tsunami2004 | Leader: British tourists have been ill-served | Two disasters, two continents. For Britons who travel overseas, there is a theme that links the tsunami and hurricane Katrina. It is the incompetent and lack-lustre performance of Britain's consular staff. Confronted with British victims in Thailand and in New Orleans, the diplomats to whom they might have turned for help variously showed a shameful lack of courage, commitment, flexibility and resourcefulness. As we report today, survivors were left to fend for themselves even when they or their loved ones were still in danger. It is hard to fathom what excuse the Foreign and Commonwealth Office can offer for what appears to be a dereliction of duty. Certainly, they were confronted with chaos, loss of life and risk on an enormous scale. But the accounts by survivors that The Observer has collected over the past fortnight speak tellingly of their treatment by officials. The United States rightly faces criticism for its tardy and inadequate response to events in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. But the same logic applies to the UK. A country whose diplomats cannot help the citizens for whom they are responsible is equally shamed. The Foreign Affairs Select Committee must urgently investigate these failings in October when Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary, and Michael Jay, Permanent Secretary at the FCO, appear before them. Questions about the conduct of their consular officials should be high on the agenda. The evidence so far is that their response to the suffering of people they are paid to protect fell far short of what we are entitled to expect. | ['world/tsunami2004', 'us-news/hurricane-katrina', 'politics/foreignpolicy', 'us-news/us-news', 'politics/politics', 'world/world', 'tone/editorials', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/comment'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2005-09-11T00:02:45Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2023/dec/13/netherlands-children-not-swallow-sea-foam-pfas-concerns | Netherlands warns children not to swallow sea foam over PFAS concerns | The Dutch government has warned people to stop children and pets swallowing foam at the seaside, after a study showed “forever chemicals” were concentrated in the spume. After research into foam at the Belgian seaside showing a concentration of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – used widely for their waterproofing qualities but difficult to destroy – the Dutch public health institute RIVM measured the coast in Zeeland, north and south Holland in April and August. It found that, although not as marked as the “very high concentrations” discovered by the Flemish Institute for Technological Research in one sample from the Belgian resort of Knokke, sea foam at popular Dutch resorts including Egmond, Katwijk, Scheveningen, Texel and Zandvoort had comparable levels of PFAS to Belgium. PFAS synthetic chemicals have been linked with toxic effects on the human immune system, certain cancers, fertility issues and risks for wildlife. “It is sensible to have a shower after swimming, wash your hands before eating, and not to let children and pets swallow any sea foam,” said the minister of water management, Mark Harbers, in a parliamentary briefing on Tuesday. “The RIVM has previously established that people in the Netherlands are already too exposed to PFAS. A large amount comes from food and drinking water. Every route through which people ingest more PFAS is undesirable, including via sea foam.” He said no measures were needed regarding sea swimming since levels in the water were “a lot lower”. The RIVM said in a press release that it was unclear what the presence of the chemicals in foam meant “for the health of … swimmers, surfers, or people walking on the beach” due to a lack of data on exposure and acceptable risk levels. According to the Dutch study, which measured foam where available, “just as much if not more PFAS occur in Dutch sea foam as have been measured in Flemish sea foam, with the exception of one sample from Knokke in which very high PFAS concentrations were found”. PFAS are used in everything from waterproof clothing and cosmetics to firefighting foam and pizza boxes. Some are banned but there are concerns about environmental levels because the carbon-fluorine bonds that make the chemicals so useful also resist degradation. Last month, it was revealed that 17 of England’s 18 water companies found them in drinking water sources, including the widely restricted chemical PFOS in raw, untreated water at 18 times the limit for drinking water. Last year, the RIVM notes, the Dutch government tightened drinking water limits for PFAS after they were found to be “more dangerous for health than previously thought”. Flanders advises not playing in sea foam, not ingesting it, and washing after a day at the beach. The EU is considering large-scale restrictions on PFAS. | ['environment/pfas', 'world/netherlands', 'world/world', 'world/europe-news', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/senay-boztas', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/environmentnews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-12-13T07:39:10Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
science/2002/jan/08/gm.activists | Anti-GM warrior Melchett joins PR firm that advised Monsanto | Lord Melchett, the former head of Greenpeace UK who was arrested two years ago after leading an attack on a genetically modified crop, startled former colleagues yesterday by announcing he had taken a job at a PR company which has represented Monsanto and the European biotech industry. In a move that has provoked scorn from anti-GM activists, the former Labour minister and farmer, who is on the board of Greenpeace International, is to become a consultant for Burson-Marsteller, the world's largest corporate communications company. He will be paid an undisclosed annual retainer and has a brief to talk to whoever he likes. Burson-Marsteller is the company that governments with poor human rights records and corporations in trouble with environmentalists have turned to when in crisis. The world's biggest PR company was employed by the Nigerian government to discredit reports of genocide during the Biafran war, the Argentinian junta after the disappearance of 35,000 civilians, and the Indonesian government after the massacres in East Timor. It also worked to improve the image of the late Romanian president Nicolae Ceausescu and the Saudi royal family. Its corporate clients have included the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, which suffered a partial meltdown in 1979, Union Carbide after the Bhopal gas leak killed up to 15,000 people in India, BP after the sinking of the Torrey Canyon oil tanker in 1967 and the British government after BSE emerged. In the past few years it has acted for big tobacco companies and the European biotechnology industry to challenge the green lobby and counter Greenpeace arguments on GM food. Yesterday Lord Melchett said he would be an adviser in Burson-Marsteller's corporate social responsibility unit, and would work only with the companies he chose to. "I will be more selective than when I worked at Greenpeace," he said. "My values have not changed at all and if I think a company should close down I shall tell them. I shall tell them the truth." Stephen Tisdale, the director of Greenpeace UK, said he did not foresee any conflict of interest. "Anyone who knows Peter will know that he hasn't changed his agenda at all," he said. "He sees Burson-Marsteller as a conduit to some very influential companies who would not normally talk to environmentalists. In some ways Greenpeace held him back, and he has become more radical after leaving last year." An internal document from Greenpeace to its staff suggested that Lord Melchett would not have to compromise his beliefs: "Peter's advice to companies will be 'go organic, do the right thing', rather than help bad companies avoid the likes of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. "Peter will only take on the briefs that he chooses, there is no question of him working for BAT [British American Tobacco] or the Burmese junta." But others said he was effectively now on Monsanto's and other corporations' payrolls. "How can you have a man who is on the board of Greenpeace International and a policy adviser to the Soil Association taking money from the GM industry and companies with some of the worst records imaginable?" said Kate Jones, a former anti-GM campaigner. Other well known environmentalists who have left high-profile campaigning to work for people who might be considered their opponents include Tom Burke, a former Friends of the Earth director now with the mining company Rio Tinto, and Jonathon Porritt, another former head of Friends of the Earth who now works for the government. They say they can effect change better from within the corporate fold, but have been widely criticised and accused of selling out. Lord Melchett, whose grandfather helped to found ICI, joins at Burson-Marsteller Richard Aylard, a former head of the Soil Association, and Gavin Grant, a former head of communications for the Body Shop. | ['environment/activism', 'environment/gm', 'environment/food', 'environment/environment', 'science/science', 'politics/politics', 'uk/uk', 'environment/greenpeace', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal'] | environment/greenpeace | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2002-01-08T02:17:10Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2012/jul/24/name-a-species-winner-2012 | 'Cutpurse wasp' wins species naming competition | Overall winner: Cutpurse wasp, for Aporus unicolor, by Guardian reader philipphilip99 Royal flush sea slug (Akera bullata) Sea slug that escapes by flapping and exuding purple ink. Chosen by Sally Patricia Garland. Cutpurse wasp (Aporus unicolor) A spider-hunting wasp. Chosen by 'philipphilip99' Corrugated scarab (Brindalus porcicollis) A shiny grooved scarab. Chosen by 'tiremola'. Spiny mudlark (Brissopsis lyrifera) Spiny urchin in the mud. Chosen by 'geekgoddess'. Solar-powered sea slug (Elysia viridis) Photosynthesising sea slug. Chosen by Danny Rowson Elusive knapweed bee (Halictus eurygnathus) A lost bee of the South Downs. Chosen by Nikola Rnjak Clockface anemone (Peachia cylindrica) 12-tentacled lurker in the sand. Chosen by James Quinn Wannabee fly (Pocota personata) Hoverfly disguised as a bumblebee. Chosen by Deborah O'hara Semaphore fly (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus) A glittering green fly which waves its white tips to attract mates. Chosen by Alan Thomson Crab hacker barnacle (Sacculina carcini) A parasitic barnacle that takes over its crab host. Chosen by Prakash Shah Notes Several winning names were suggested by more than one person. To select one winner and runner up for each species we adopted the following rules: • For entries on the Guardian blog we selected the first person to suggest the name, since later entrants had an opportunity to read previously suggested names. • For handwritten entries at public events, entrants suggesting identical winning names were entered into a hat and one winner was drawn out. • If winning entries came from both the Guardian blog and public events then the first entrant from the Guardian was added to the other entrants and one name was pulled from a hat. In some instances some very similar names were suggested to the winning name, however only those identical to that chosen by the judges were included in the tie break draw. | ['environment/series/name-a-species', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/biodiversity', 'environment/environment', 'type/article'] | environment/biodiversity | BIODIVERSITY | 2012-07-24T15:39:00Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
us-news/2017/jan/30/amid-travel-ban-protests-finding-dory-is-trumps-first-white-house-movie-screening | Finding Dory, a movie about travellers, is Trump's first White House screening | As the chaos and protests at airports around the US gathered steam on Sunday after President Donald Trump’s startling travel ban on people coming to America from seven majority-Muslim countries, the White House had a lighter listing on its official schedule: a screening of Finding Dory at the White House family theater from 3pm. As the film’s co-star Albert Brooks pointed out, the choice of the film – believed to be the president’s first official screening since his inauguration – comes with layers of irony. After Trump’s executive order, green card holders, visa holders and pre-approved refugees from countries in the Middle East and north Africa were detained at airports or pulled off airplanes around the world. “Odd that Trump is watching Finding Dory today, a movie about reuniting with family when he’s preventing it in real life,” Brooks tweeted. A sequel to Finding Nemo, the Disney Pixar film follows Dory – a blue tang fish with short-term memory loss, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres – on her journey from the Great Barrier Reef to a marine life institute in California to reunite with her long-lost parents. DeGegeneres did not refer to the Finding Dory screening, but was tweeting her opposition to the travel ban at about the same time as Brooks on Sunday. “America is great because of all the people who came here,” she said. “Not in spite of them.” Other Twitter users also drew attention to the irony of the film selection, with one posting: “Trump is screening Finding Dory today: the story of a foreigner entering the US without authorization to reunite with her parents #irony”. Finding Dory is awash in themes of environmental conservation – an odd choice for a president who denies the existence of climate change and has claimed global warming is a hoax. In the movie, Dory swims through the beleaguered Great Barrier Reef to return to her childhood home: a habitat which rehabilitates marine life damaged by, among other things, the effects of climate change and pollution. The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, clarified on Twitter that while the Finding Dory screening had gone ahead on Sunday, Trump wasn’t watching. “Actually he spent 60 seconds welcoming and thanking spouses and children of White House staff then right back to work,” he said. On Wednesday DeGeneres issued a slight jab at Trump in the opening monologue of her daytime talk show. “Unfortunately, Finding Dory did not get nominated [for an Oscar],” she said. “According to alternative facts, it did,” she joked, referring to the term used by the senior White House aide Kellyanne Conway while defending Spicer’s false claims of the turnout at Trump’s inauguration. | ['film/finding-dory', 'us-news/donaldtrump', 'tv-and-radio/ellen-degeneres', 'us-news/usimmigration', 'us-news/us-politics', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/great-barrier-reef', 'environment/environment', 'film/film', 'world/refugees', 'world/migration', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'us-news/trumps-travel-ban', 'us-news/sean-spicer', 'profile/steph-harmon', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-culture'] | environment/great-barrier-reef | BIODIVERSITY | 2017-01-30T02:14:50Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2017/jul/19/taking-stock-of-our-shares-in-tobacco | Taking stock of our shares in tobacco | Letters | I’m pleased that John Walker has won his fight for equal pension rights for gay couples (Report, 17 July), but he is wrong that this was “the last legal differential between gay and heterosexual people”. As a heterosexual person I cannot enter a civil partnership with my partner of over 30 years. This affects his right to have the same benefits from my pension as a husband would. Let’s continue the fight for equality. Deborah Dickinson London • I wonder how many readers have FTSE 100 tracker investments. Both British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands are comfortably positioned within this Index (Ministers publish plan to slash tobacco use, 19 July). James Pam Nottingham • Why all this fuss about life expectancy tailing off (Report, 18 July)? For years we have been told of the social and financial pressures involving people like me growing in numbers. And remember this summer young lefties telling each other not to despair as they are moving closer to utopia “with every funeral”? Edward Thomas Eastbourne, East Sussex • Wendy Harvey (Letters, 13 July) suggests we all pick up one piece of litter a day and hopes someone will come up with a catchy logo for her campaign. As I cycle round rural lanes in Norfolk, fuming at the amount I see (and collect), I feel we should take aim at the litterers with the slogan “Don’t be a tosser.” Nancy Krois Mileham, Norfolk • During the 80s our local fishmonger used to put an advert in his window: “Wanted, brainless youth for nasty, wet, mucky job out the back.” He always seemed to get the staff (Do obnoxious job adverts ever work?, G2, 19 July). Terri Green Langley, Warwickshire • When Donald Trump says “let Obamacare fail” (Report, 19 July), he appears to be aping Jeremy Hunt’s strategy with the NHS. Garry Booth Halesworth, Suffolk • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | ['business/tobacco-industry', 'world/lgbt-rights', 'business/business', 'society/life-expectancy', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/waste', 'money/job-hunting', 'business/healthcare', 'us-news/donaldtrump', 'politics/jeremy-hunt', 'commentisfree/series/brief-letters', 'tone/letters', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/editorialsandreply', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2017-07-19T19:09:39Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
australia-news/2023/dec/15/aemo-warns-coal-fired-power-plants-could-drop-off-before-replacements-are-ready | Aemo warns coal-fired power plants could drop off before replacements are ready | Australia’s main power grid faces the “real” possibility ageing coal-fired power plants will drop out before sufficient generation capacity and transmission lines are in place, the Australian Energy Market Operator has said. The comments, contained in a draft report on Aemo’s main blueprint for the national electricity market, come a day after New South Wales faced its first grid strains of the summer. Authorities called on consumers to reduce non-essential power use as temperatures hovered in the high-30s across much of Sydney. Aemo’s report, known as the integrated system plan, noted that 10 big coal-fired power plants had shut in the national electricity market since 2012. The remaining coal fleet may shut as much as three times faster than companies have flagged in their own public announcements. Aemo said in the mostly likely scenario about 90% of the current 21 gigawatts of coal capacity would retire by 2034-35 and all by 2038. Even in its “progressive change” path, only 4GW of coal generation would remain in 2034-35. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup The scale of the replacement capacity needed is huge. Solar and windfarms will need to triple by 2030 to 57GW and expand seven-fold by 2050 to 126GW. To support the variable renewables, new storage, hydro- and gas-powered generation will need to increase four-fold to 74GW by 2050. Roof-top solar, already installed on a higher percentage of houses, will also need to expand four times by mid-century to 72W, Aemo said. “While significant progress [in the transition off fossil fuels] is being made, challenges and risks are already being experienced,” Aemo’s report said. “Planned projects are not progressing as expected, due to approval processes, investment decision uncertainty, cost pressures, social licence issues, supply chain issues and workforce shortages.” Under two of the three main scenarios examined, the grid will also need an extra 10,000km of transmission by 2050. The report said if Australia pursues a policy of developing so-called green energy exports, such as hydrogen, more than twice the transmission construction will be needed. The energy industry itself has been calling for an acceleration of new investments if Australia is to meet its 2030 decarbonisation goals – but also to ensure power supplies can meet demand. New investment decisions have been dwindling, despite the urgency, with some firms complaining of changing rules in states such as NSW. The federal government’s plan for a capacity investment scheme to provide minimum prices for as much as 32GW of new renewables and storage was aimed to accelerate new projects but has raised concerns by some private companies of excessive state involvement in the market. The draft integrated system plan may be at odds with some firms’ plans. Victoria, for instance, may have closed coal plants entirely by 2033, Aemo predicts, while AGL Energy says its Loy Yang A power station will shut by the end of the 2035 financial year. “To identify the optimal development path to 2050, we used Australia’s most comprehensive set of power system and market models to assess the benefits and risks of more than 1,000 potential pathways,” Aemo’s chief executive, Daniel Westerman, said. “Delivering the transmission projects identified in this plan is expected to avoid $17bn in additional costs to consumers if those projects were not delivered,” he said. Separately, the NSW government on Friday released the design of a proposed new plan that aims to bolster energy reliability as coal-fired plants close. If applied, the national orderly exit management framework would provide “a clear process for governments to manage situations where owners of a coal-fired power station seek to bring forward its retirement date”, the government said. “If required, it also enables a government to temporarily extend the operation of the power station while new renewable infrastructure comes online, through a voluntary agreement or a direction,” it said. NSW’s energy minister, Penny Sharpe, said the government was “committed to getting as much renewable energy into our grid as quickly as possible to meet our emissions reduction targets and provide a reliable supply of clean, affordable electricity”. “We don’t want coal-fired power stations open a minute longer than needed,” Sharpe said. “This framework provides a back-up for the energy transition, to be used only as a last resort where we don’t have enough time to feasibly get new renewables or storage into the system.” | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/windpower', 'environment/coal', 'environment/energy', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/peter-hannam', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2023-12-14T14:00:02Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2020/oct/02/40000-trees-face-felling-by-national-trust-after-surge-in-ash-dieback | 40,000 trees face felling by National Trust after surge in ash dieback | Woods that inspired Beatrix Potter and John Constable could be lost because of a surge in a disease affecting ash, the National Trust has warned. The conservation charity said it faced its worst year on record for felling trees owing to ash dieback, in part due to one of the warmest and driest springs on record. Increased prolonged hot and dry conditions driven by the climate crisis were putting trees under stress and making them more susceptible to disease, dramatically speeding up the impact of ash dieback, the trust said. It said the Covid-19 lockdown meant rangers who would ordinarily carry out felling and maintenance work to ensure tree safety had not been able to do so, leaving them having to play catch-up. While the National Trust has felled about 4,000-5,000 trees a year in recent years, largely because of ash dieback, this year it faces having to cut down around 40,000 trees, with a bill of £2m. Landscapes under threat include the Cotswolds, where more than 7,000 trees will have to be felled in the coming year. In all, the trust expects to fell more than 15,000 trees in south-west England. Woodlands around the home of the painter John Constable, in Flatford, Suffolk, are also under threat, as are sites in the Lake District that inspired Beatrix Potter, including Troutbeck Park farm, which she managed, and High Oxen fell. The National Trust said other woodlands, including the ravine woods of the White Peak in Derbyshire, where ash trees cling to the limestone of the steep dale sides, will change beyond recognition. Luke Barley, a tree and woodland adviser, said: “Ash dieback is a catastrophe for nature. Our landscapes and woodlands are irrevocably changing before our eyes, and this year’s combination of a dry spring and late frost may have dramatically sped up the spread and severity of ash dieback. It is nothing new, but the speed at which it is spreading seems to have been exacerbated due to the weather, and the time and expense necessary to tackle it contributes to the perfect storm we are witnessing.” The charity, which needs to save £100m because of the pandemic, is appealing to the public to replace lost woodland by donating to the Everyone Needs Nature campaign via its website. | ['environment/ash-dieback', 'environment/forests', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'uk/national-trust', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/stevenmorris', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-10-02T05:00:14Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
world/2020/jul/17/mexico-hurricanes-alien-base-gulf-coast | Space oddity: Mexican group claims alien base offers hurricane protection | As communities on Mexico’s Gulf coast brace themselves for what is predicted to be a grueling hurricane season, a group of stargazers in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas are confident that a unique form of disaster preparation will keep their city safe. Members of the Association of Scientific UFO Research of Tamaulipas, or Aicot, believe that an inter-dimensional underwater base of extraterrestrial origin has protected the coastal cities of Ciudad Madero and Tampico from hurricanes for more than 50 years. Aicot’s president, Juan Carlos Ramón López Díaz, claims to have visited the base – known as Amupac – via astral projection, which he says he induced through meditation and a pescatarian diet. “It’s also recommendable to ascend ancestral constructions, like temples and pyramids, that have stairs at a 45-degree angle,” he says. (Hills sloping at such a gradient will also do, if one doesn’t live near pre-Columbian ruins.) Ciudad Madero suffered four direct landfalls in the 20th century, including Hurricane Inez in 1966 which killed 74 people in Mexico alone. López and his allies believe that the base was established some time after that. Explanations of exactly how and why the alien visitors are protecting Ciudad Madero vary, even among fellow investigators. López believes it’s not Amupac itself, but the esoteric power of Aicot members’ belief in the base. “The collective mind is charged with this concept, so it generates a large force field of repulsion,” he said. There is also talk of magnetic fields and a series of meter-long bars of an aluminum, iron and copper alloy secretly buried in the seafloor near Miramar Beach at the suggestion of the visitors over four decades ago. Others claim that the aliens are only interested in protecting their base, and Ciudad Madero is just lucky they took a liking to this small corner of the galaxy. This theory fails to explain, however, what threat a terrestrial weather event might pose to a structure with no form in our physical dimension. Still others simply accept the apparently inexplicable, said Marco Flores, the former official historian of Tampico. “If science gives us no explanation we’ll get one from magic,” he said. “Fantasy is always more attractive than reality.” The municipal government placed a bust of a green Martian at Miramar Beach in 2013 and officially dubbed the last Tuesday in October the Day of the Martian. The bust was promptly stolen. Jaime Maussan, Mexico’s leading chronicler of UFO sightings and other supernatural events allowed that southern Tamaulipas was a hotbed of extramundane activity, but said he and his team of researchers were previously unaware of Amupac. He did, however, remark that the theory was “curious”. Dr Rosario Romero, a climate scientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, agreed that Ciudad Madero’s streak of hurricane-free weather was interesting – but not that it was inexplicable. She said that Tamaulipas is more likely to see less intense tropical storms, while broader atmospheric conditions – such as subtropical, high-pressure systems and the prevailing westerly winds – tend to push major hurricanes north toward the southern coast of the United States. Furthermore, although Ciudad Madero has not been struck directly by a hurricane since 1966 it has not escaped damage from others that made landfall elsewhere. In 2013 the city declared a state of emergency after Hurricane Ingrid caused significant flooding. A busy hurricane season does not necessarily portend a high number of landfalls, but Romero cautioned that predictions often turn out to be inaccurate and storms take unexpected turns – so residents of Ciudad Madero and other Gulf coast communities should take practical hurricane precautions. “We now have advanced monitoring systems and numerical models that allow us to predict a storm’s intensity and path – but trajectories still vary widely depending on those wider atmospheric conditions,” she said. Despite the growing body of climate science to explain weather trends around Ciudad Madero, many in the city still advance faith-based explanations. Devout Catholics in the city trust in Our Lady of Mount Carmel, especially her patrons, the sailors who sound their horns at the mouth of the Pánuco River as they pass a statue of her, erected – curiously enough – in 1967. | ['world/mexico', 'world/world', 'world/americas', 'world/ufos', 'world/hurricanes', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-foreign'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-07-17T09:38:34Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2024/jan/23/hinkley-point-c-could-be-delayed-to-2031-and-cost-up-to-35bn-says-edf | Hinkley Point C could be delayed to 2031 and cost up to £35bn, says EDF | The owner of Hinkley Point C has blamed inflation, Covid and Brexit as it announced the nuclear power plant project could be delayed by a further four years, and cost £2.3bn more. The plant in Somerset, which has been under construction since 2016, is now expected to be finished by 2031 and cost up to £35bn, France’s EDF said. However, the cost will be far higher once inflation is taken into account, because EDF is using 2015 prices. The latest in a series of setbacks represents a huge delay to the project’s initial timescale. In 2007, the then EDF chief executive Vincent de Rivaz said that by Christmas in 2017, turkeys would be cooked using electricity generated from atomic power at Hinkley. When the project was finally given the green light in 2016, its cost was estimated at £18bn. “Like other major infrastructure projects, we have found civil construction slower than we hoped and faced inflation, labour and material shortages, on top of Covid and Brexit disruption,” said Stuart Crooks, the project’s managing director, in a message to staff. Crooks said: “Running the project longer will cost more money and our budget has also been affected by rising civil construction costs. It is important to say that British consumers or taxpayers won’t pay a penny, with the increased costs met entirely by shareholders.” EDF had previously said that the first reactor unit at the nuclear site would be due to be complete by June 2027, with a 15-month buffer period which was likely to be used – putting its completion at September 2028, and a further year for the second unit. It costs were estimated between £25bn and £26bn, and this was later revised up to £32.7bn in February 2023. EDF gave three scenarios, ranging from becoming operational is 2029, to delays pushing this back to 2031. It said that the cost of completing Hinkley will be between £31bn and £34bn, although if completion is delayed to 2031 costs would rise to £35bn. In December it emerged EDF’s partner in the project, China General Nuclear, had halted funding for Hinkley. The move came after the government took over CGN’s stake in Hinkley’s proposed sister site, Sizewell C in Suffolk, stripping the Chinese state-owned company of its role in the project. The latest financial estimates are based on accounting in 2015 figures, meaning the total cost of the project could be far higher when inflation over the last decade is factored in. Hinkley’s ballooning costs have proved controversial with French taxpayers, which are picking up the tab. Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C are expected to herald a new era of nuclear plants touted by the government. Last year the government launched a delivery body, Great British Nuclear, with the aim of accelerating the development of new nuclear projects. Earlier this month ministers set out plans for out for the “biggest nuclear power expansion in 70 years”. However, the Hinkley Point C delay will add to concerns over project delays and costs, as well as skills in an industry earmarked to deliver a quarter of the national electricity demand by 2050. Crooks wrote: “Dome lift happened 24 months later than we had planned when we began in 2016. Of that delay, 15 months was due to the global pandemic. So, beyond Covid, we’ve lost nine months since we started. That’s not perfect, but for the first nuclear plant to be built in Britain since 1995, it’s not bad.” Crooks said that project was “well past the halfway mark” and “many risks are now behind us”. EDF said in January it would delay the shutdown of four of its UK nuclear reactors for at least two years and increase investment in its British nuclear fleet. | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/edf', 'uk-news/hinkley-point-c', 'uk/uk', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'business/business', 'uk-news/somerset', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alex-lawson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2024-01-23T18:50:46Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2013/nov/08/china-antarctica-trip-icebreaker-snow-dragon | China eyes Antarctica's resource bounty | China's colossal red icebreaker, the Xuelong or Snow Dragon, embarked on a 155-day expedition to Antarctica on Thursday. The voyage marks China's 30th trip to the continent, and many of the 256 crew are scientists hunting meteorites. Also onboard are construction materials to establish the country's fourth Antarctic research station, Taishan, which is to be located in Australian-claimed territory, a vast area of East Antarctica that houses an unknown wealth of coal, iron ores, manganese and hydrocarbon. In 1960, one year before the Antarctic Treaty came into force, a geologist declared before the US science academy that he "would not give a nickel for all the resources of Antarctica". Today, in a world of dwindling fossil fuels and soaring energy needs, countries are spending lavishly to explore the potential of the world's last unexploited continent. China, which is resource-scarce, is unambiguous about its polar aims. At a Politburo committee conference in July, president Xi Jinping emphasised the necessity of polar exploration to "take advantage of ocean and polar resources", according to a government website. In the north, China has been granted observer status by the Arctic Council, allowing it more influence. In the south, the country is rapidly building research stations – a method of assertion on a continent where sovereignty is disputed. In 2003, China's yearly Antarctic spending was £12m; by 2013 it was £35m, accounting for 80% of the total polar budget. Article seven of Antarctica's Protocol on Environmental Protection stipulates that activity relating to mineral resources, other than scientific research, is prohibited. But this ruling, up for review in 2048, allows geological surveillance. "It is necessary for us to fully understand the resources on the continent," says Guo Peiqing, a professor of law and politics at the Ocean University of China. "China's exploration of the continent is like playing chess. It's important to have a position in the global game. We don't know when play will happen, but it's necessary to have a foothold." As budgets of long-established states shrivel, those of newer players including India, South Korea and China expand. The focus on resources by some countries has been of concern to those who value the conservation ethic of the treaty, which protects the continent as a science preserve. "One of the things that's of concern in Antarctic governance is a lack of genuine checking up of what countries are doing," says Anne-Marie Brady, author of an upcoming book on China's polar strategy. Brady adds that the energy needs of many nations in 2048 will differ from today. If predictions about Antarctica's 200 billion barrel oil capacity prove correct, the continent's reserves would be third largest in the world, according to the Lowy Institute. Fresh water is also abundant. As persistent high temperatures melt ice from the 1.5m sq km of coastal shelf, scavenging could become a reality in a water-hungry world. With Antarctica, there is much at stake. As a carbon sink, the continent plays an essential role in global weather. The Antarctic Bottom Water – the coldest and most oxygen-rich deep-water body on earth – ventilates the world's seas, and excessive fishing or offshore drilling will decrease its oxygen content, reducing efficacy. Environmental groups have long been worried about the overexploitation of krill, a crustacean vital to its ecosystem, as well as the longevity of the toothfish. Decision-making in Antarctica is consensual. As countries with conflicting agendas strive to further national interest, the ability to protect Antarctica's ecology weakens. Already the international body established to protect marine life is struggling to ratify new measures. At a meeting last week of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, two proposals for new protected areas were stalled when China, Russia and Ukraine withdrew support over fears about fishing curbs. "It's inevitable that people will want to go to Antarctica because they've taken too much fish from everyplace else," says James Barnes, executive director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. "But it's not inevitable that they [will] get to do so." • Additional research by Xia Keyu | ['environment/poles', 'environment/environment', 'world/antarctica', 'world/world', 'world/china', 'science/geology', 'science/science', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/nicola-davison'] | environment/poles | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2013-11-08T13:47:28Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2021/jun/08/knowledge-of-medicinal-plants-at-risk-as-languages-die-out | Knowledge of medicinal plants at risk as languages die out | Knowledge of medicinal plants is at risk of disappearing as human languages become extinct, a new study has warned. Indigenous languages contain vast amounts of knowledge about ecosystem services provided by the natural world around them. However, more than 30% of the 7,400 languages on the planet are expected to disappear by the end of the century, according to the UN. The impact of language extinction on loss of ecological knowledge is often overlooked, said the study’s lead researcher, Dr Rodrigo Cámara-Leret, a biologist from the University of Zurich. “Much of the focus looks at biodiversity extinction, but there is a whole other picture out there which is the loss of cultural diversity,” he said. His team looked at 12,000 medicinal plant services associated with 230 indigenous languages in three regions with high levels of linguistic and biological diversity – North America, north-west Amazonia and New Guinea. They found that 73% of medicinal knowledge in North America was only found in one language; 91% in north-west Amazonia; and 84% in New Guinea. If the languages became extinct, the medicinal expertise associated with them probably would too. Researchers expect their findings from these regions to be similar in other parts of the world. “The loss of language will have more critical repercussion to the extinction of traditional knowledge about medicinal plants than the loss of the plants themselves,” said Cámara-Leret. The areas with languages most at risk were in north-west Amazonia, where 100% of this unique knowledge was supported by threatened languages, and in North America, where the figure was 86%. In New Guinea 31% of languages were at risk. The anticipated loss of linguistic diversity would “substantially compromise humanity’s capacity for medicinal discovery”, according to the paper, published in PNAS. Such knowledge includes using the latex of plants to treat fungal infections, using bark to treat digestive problems, fruits for respiratory ailments, as well as natural stimulants and hallucinogens. “The list goes on and on, it’s quite impressive,” said Cámara-Leret. “Even the best plant taxonomists out there are amazed by the breadth of knowledge of indigenous cultures, not only about plants but also animals and their inter-relations.” It is impossible to know what has already been lost. More than 1,900 of the languages spoken now have fewer than 10,000 speakers and the UN has declared 2022-32 to be the International Decade of Indigenous Languages in recognition of this issue. Jordi Bascompte, an ecologist from Zurich University and second author of the paper, said European medicinal knowledge may represent the “tip of the iceberg”. Although a lot of drugs are based on synthetic compounds, there may be many more chemical components provided by plants that could unlock the potential for new treatments. “Any insight, regardless of where it comes from, may end up being useful,” he said. The paper did not examine to what degree medicinal services are considered effective in the western sense, although researchers say that in many instances plants had proved effective. Much of the world’s linguistic diversity is being safeguarded by indigenous people whose culture and livelihoods are under threat as barriers between groups are broken down. Unlike societies where information has been transcribed in books and computers, most indigenous languages transmit knowledge orally. Governmental programmes to stimulate the transmission of languages, bilingual schooling and interest in cultural heritage would help communities retain linguistic diversity, said Cámara-Leret. But the medicinal aspect was just one of many reasons to promote the conservation and diversity of languages in the world, he added. Dr Jonathan Loh, an anthropologist and conservationist from the University of Kent, who was not involved in the research, said he was surprised by the degree of linguistic uniqueness in medicinal plant knowledge. He has previously spoken about the parallels between linguistic and biological diversity, commenting that these had evolved in remarkably similar ways, and both faced an extinction crisis. He said it was important, however, not to focus on utilitarian arguments for the conservation of languages, cultural diversity and biodiversity. “There may be valuable knowledge of medicines unknown to western science contained within these languages, and doubtless that is true to some extent, but it is not the most important reason for conserving them,” he said. “Every indigenous language and culture is a unique evolutionary lineage that once lost is lost forever.” Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/plants', 'environment/environment', 'environment/biodiversity', 'world/indigenous-peoples', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'world/world', 'science/language', 'science/science', 'lifeandstyle/alternative-medicine', 'lifeandstyle/health-and-wellbeing', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'world/papua-new-guinea', 'world/asia-pacific', 'world/pacific-islands', 'world/native-americans', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/amazon-rainforest', 'environment/forests', 'environment/deforestation', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/phoebe-weston', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/deforestation | BIODIVERSITY | 2021-06-08T04:00:10Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
environment/2021/jan/15/air-pollution-will-lead-to-mass-migration-say-experts-after-landmark-ruling | Air pollution will lead to mass migration, say experts after landmark ruling | Air pollution does not respect national boundaries and environmental degradation will lead to mass migration in the future, said a leading barrister in the wake of a landmark migration ruling, as experts warned that government action must be taken as a matter of urgency. Sailesh Mehta, a barrister specialising in environmental cases, said: “The link between migration and environmental degradation is clear. As global warming makes parts of our planet uninhabitable, mass migration will become the norm. Air and water pollution do not respect national boundaries. We can stop a humanitarian and political crisis from becoming an existential one. But our leaders must act now.” He added: “We have a right to breathe clean air. Governments and courts are beginning to recognise this fundamental human right. The problem is not just that of Bangladesh and the developing world. Air pollution contributes to around 200,000 deaths a year in the UK. One in four deaths worldwide can be linked to pollution.” The comments follow a decision by a French court this week, which is believed to be the first time environment was cited by a court in an extradition hearing. The case involved a Bangladeshi man with asthma who avoided deportation from France after his lawyer argued that he risked a severe deterioration in his condition, and possibly premature death, due to the dangerous levels of pollution in his homeland. The appeals court in Bordeaux overturned an expulsion order against the 40-year-old man because he would face “a worsening of his respiratory pathology due to air pollution” in his country of origin. Yale and Columbia universities’ environmental performance index ranks Bangladesh 179th in the world for air quality in 2020, while the concentration of fine particles in the air is six times the World Health Organization’s recommended maximum. Dr David R Boyd, UN special rapporteur on human rights and environment, agreed with Mehta’s analysis, telling the Guardian: “Air pollution causes 7 million premature deaths annually, so it is understandable if people feel compelled to migrate in search of clean air to safeguard their health. Air pollution is a global public health disaster that does not get the attention it deserves because most of the people who die are poor or otherwise vulnerable.” He explained: “My work is really focused on increasing recognition and implementation of everyone’s right to live in a healthy environment, which surely includes clean air. I’m involved in a couple of really important lawsuits on this issue in South Africa and Indonesia. The good news is that we have solutions that simultaneously address air pollution and climate change primarily by rapidly phasing out fossil fuel use.” Alex Randall, coordinator at the Climate & Migration Coalition, said safe and legal routes to allow people to migrate needed to be established. “Cases such as this, where air quality or other pollution become a reason for preventing deportation, are certainly important steps forward. They may potentially lay the foundations for other future cases in which the impacts of climate change provide grounds for allowing people to stay. In fact, several other cases mostly relating to people from climate vulnerable Pacific island nations have started to do this. “However, these cases do not usually set legal precedents and people moving across borders due to climate change impacts remain in a legal grey area.” According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, one person every 1.3 seconds is forced to leave their homes and communities due to the climate crisis but millions lack legal protection. It has called on all countries to rapidly and fully implement the Paris climate agreement. A ruling by the United Nations human rights committee a year ago found it is unlawful for governments to return people to countries where their lives might be threatened by the climate crisis. Tens of millions of people are expected to be displaced by global heating in the next decade. | ['environment/environment', 'environment/air-pollution', 'environment/pollution', 'world/world', 'world/migration', 'world/france', 'world/bangladesh', 'law/law', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'law/human-rights', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/dianetaylor', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2021-01-15T11:28:12Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2018/sep/21/lidl-to-stop-using-black-plastic-fruit-and-vegetable-packaging | Lidl to stop using black plastic fruit and vegetable packaging | Lidl UK says it will remove black plastic from its entire fruit and vegetable range by the end of the month. Black plastic packaging is not recyclable in the UK, as it cannot be detected by the sorting systems used for plastic recycling, and the supermarket chain says its move will save an estimated 50 tonnes of black plastic waste a year. It also plans to remove black plastic from its fresh meat, fish and poultry range by August next year, it announced on Friday. The moves are part of its plans to make 100% of its own-label packaging – which it says will only be used where necessary – widely recyclable, reusable or refillable. Black plastic packaging will be replaced by alternatives, which Lidl says will be fully recyclable, but which could include clear plastic. Julian Kirby, plastics campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “Getting rid of black plastic is a positive first step. It seems ridiculous that so much plastic is still being produced which can’t even be recycled. “But let’s not just switch one plastic for another. Our fruit and vegetables don’t need to come smothered in a plastic jacket. “Ultimately, to end the scourge of plastic pollution clogging up our oceans, we need to get rid of most plastic altogether.” Louise Edge, senior oceans campaigner for Greenpeace UK, was less qualified in her praise. She said Lidl’s action was a clear signal to the government and major retailers that speedy action was possible. “Supermarkets are the place where a lot of the throwaway plastic filling up our homes comes from, so it’s good to see more of them are responding to the public’s concern by taking action,” she said. “Black plastic is one of the most problematic forms of plastic you can find on supermarket shelves, and Lidl are doing the right thing by phasing it out as quickly as possible.” Not all clear plastic is recyclable and what types can be recycled can also vary by area. Ryan McDonnell, Lidl’s commercial board director, said the “significant move away from black plastic demonstrates our dedication to tackling this important topic”. Last week, Waitrose & Partners announced it was to remove traditional plastic bags for loose fruit and vegetables and 5p single-use plastic bags from its stores by next spring. | ['environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'business/lidl', 'business/business', 'business/retail', 'business/supermarkets', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/haroonsiddique', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-09-21T11:53:09Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
football/2022/jul/06/england-1-0-austria-player-ratings-from-the-euro-2022-opening-game | England 1-0 Austria: players ratings from the Euro 2022 opening game | Louise Taylor | England (4-1-2-3) Mary Earps A special night for the Manchester United goalkeeper who reacted superbly to keep Barbara Dunst’s shot out. A great, and vital, save. 7 Lucy Bronze Barcelona’s swashbuckling new right-back recovered from illness in time to petrify the left side of Austria’s defence. Sometimes let down by her final ball. 6 Millie Bright Some sporadic, important dribbles out of defensive tight spots emphasised her growing poise under pressure. A fine performance. 8 Leah Williamson The captain reverted to her natural central defensive role, pushing Alex Greenwood down to the bench and dovetailed well with Bright. 7 Rachel Daly England’s answer to a “total footballer” was preferred to Demi Stokes at left-back and duelled with Dunst. 6 Keira Walsh The midfield anchor generally held things together but was sometimes exposed when Billa dropped deep and Zadrazil strutted her stuff. 6 Fran Kirby Swiftly created Beth Mead’s opener. Was behind all England’s best attacking moves and won some important second balls. 9 Georgia Stanway Revelled in box-to-box midfield role but sometimes lost Zadrazil and could have done more to support Walsh at times. 7 Beth Mead Her excellent control, touch and adroit chip over Zinsberger served as a reminder the Arsenal winger once played centre-forward for Sunderland. 8 Ellen White England’s record scorer flashed a header wide and drifted into some decent positions but was well marked. 6 Lauren Hemp The Manchester City left-winger’s pace and incisive deliveries persistently ruffled Austria but her final ball sometimes let her down and Wienroither never made it easy for her. 7 Substitutes: Toone (for Kirby 63) 6; Kelly (for Mead 63) 6; Russo (for White 63) 6. Austria (4-3-3) Manuela Zinsberger The Arsenal goalkeeper was beaten by Mead’s skill for the first goal but was often well protected by her team’s compact defending. 6 Laura Wienroither Another Arsenal player, the right-back found herself up against Hemp and never gave in. Crossed well. 7 Carina Wenninger Currently at Roma on loan from Bayern Munich, the commanding defender made a desperate attempt to hack Mead’s goal clear but it was already over the line. 6 Viki Schnaderbeck Austria’s captain is seeking a new club after stints at Arsenal and Tottenham (on loan) but made some important defensive interceptions. 7 Verena Hanshaw One of a handful of Eintracht Frankfurt players in the national squad, the left-back had to contend with both Mead and Bronze’s overlaps. 6 Sarah Puntigam The Montpellier midfielder was deployed in a holding role, allowing Zadrazil and Feiersinger to operate between England’s lines. 6 Sarah Zadrazil Irene Fuhrmann’s star player is a regular starter for Bayern Munich and there were moments when she lit up midfield. 8 Laura Feiersinger The midfielder plays for Eintracht Frankfurt and impressed alongside Zadrazil; one interception to deny Bronze lingers in the memory. 8 Katharina Naschenweng Another member of the Hoffenheim contingent was kept busy by Mead and Bronze. 5 Nicole Billa The Hoffenheim striker led the line intelligently and her movement kept England’s rearguard on their toes. 6 Barbara Dunst The right-sided Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder forced Earps into a sensational late save. 6 Substitutes: Julia Hickelsberger-Fuller (for Naschenweng 59) 7; Georgieva (for Schnaderbeck 77) 6; Marie Hobinger (for Feiersinger 86) 6. | ['football/women-s-euro-2022', 'football/england-womens-football-team', 'sport/austria-womens-football-team', 'football/womensfootball', 'football/football', 'sport/sport', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/louisetaylor', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/austria-womens-football-team | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2022-07-06T22:03:22Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
news/2021/dec/07/antarctic-visitors-threaten-worlds-largest-remaining-wilderness | Antarctic visitors threaten world’s largest remaining wilderness | The first Airbus A340 landed in Antarctica recently using an immense 10,000ft runway carved out of ice, designed to take tourist flights each carrying up to 380 passengers. Increasing numbers of visitors are threatening the fragile Antarctic environment. Antarctica is largely isolated by the Southern Ocean, with the strongest ocean current on Earth, fierce surface winds, icy air and cold seas. Unique life forms have evolved to cope with the frigid climate. But as the global climate heats, so much of the continent is changing. The Antarctic peninsula is one of the fastest heating regions of the world, and glaciers are melting and exposing bare ground. Newly exposed grounds have begun to be colonised by invasive species as visitors unwittingly bring in foreign seeds, spores and microbes on their clothes and equipment. One particularly aggressive invader is the annual meadowgrass, widespread in many parts of the world, which has colonised ice-free areas left behind by retreating glaciers in Antarctica. Foreign wildlife has also become established, including 11 invertebrate species, such as springtails, mites, a midge and an earthworm. These are all worrying signs of rapid changes in Antarctica, the world’s largest remaining wilderness. • This article was amended on 8 December 2021 to include a link to research by Dr Dana Bergstrom whose work is one of the author’s references. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/antarctica', 'environment/glaciers', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/jeremy-plester', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-12-07T06:00:20Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/article/2024/jul/15/asian-elephant-mrna-vaccine-houstonendotheliotropic-herpesvirus-eehv-aoe | First Asian elephant vaccinated in fight against deadly herpes virus | An Asian elephant at Houston zoo in the US has received the first mRNA vaccine against herpes, which is the leading killer of Asian elephants calves in captivity. Tess, a 40-year-old Asian elephant, was injected with the trial vaccine at the Texas zoo in June, after a spate of deaths in juveniles in zoos around the world from the elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). Dr Paul Ling, who researches herpes in humans at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, developed the elephant mRNA vaccine, which is designed to boost the immunity of young elephants. “When elephants are born, they have a tremendous amount of antibodies that they get from their mother,” he said. “When the female elephant gives birth, she’s probably already had this virus so she gives protective antibodies to her baby, and they last for a certain period of time. Our vaccine is designed to give these young elephants enough immunity that they’ve lost over time.” The mRNA vaccine is similar in design to the Covid-19 vaccines used in humans during the recent pandemic, and aims to prevent serious illness and death from EEHV in young Asian elephants. The virus can cause a lethal hemorrhagic disease in Asian elephants, similar to the effects Ebola has on humans. Researchers believe it is passed among Asian elephants through their trunks. First discovered in 1990 and scientifically described in 1999, the virus is a major driver of Asian elephant deaths in captivity. This month, two juveniles died from the virus at Dublin zoo. Zoos in Chester, Melbourne and Zurich are among those that have lost several baby Asian elephants to the disease. In symptomatic elephants, it has a mortality rate of about 70%. While the virus has been recorded in wild populations and fatalities have been recorded, experts are unsure how much impact it is having on wild Asian elephants or whether a vaccination programme would be practical. There are fewer than 50,000 of the species in the wild and they are threatened with extinction. Habitat loss, poaching and genetic isolation are all considered bigger threats to their survival. A Chester zoo spokesperson said they thought the elephant herpes virus was a threat to the long-term survival of the Asian elephant, adding that reports of fatalities in India, Nepal, Myanmar and Thailand were on the rise. “The only long-term solution to beating EEHV is to find a safe and effective vaccine, which is most likely to be achieved through zoo-led research,” the spokesperson said. “While the global conservation community has made significant steps towards finding a viable vaccine, further work and time is needed before we have the answer we’re all so desperately searching for – scientific confirmation that the vaccine is effective in preventing EEHV.” Researchers are monitoring the health of Tess, and Houston zoo plans to inoculate more Asian elephants later this year if no side effects are recorded. The mRNA was developed in a partnership between Houston zoo, Baylor College of Medicine and the Dallas-based “de-extinction” company Colossal. Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features | ['environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'world/zoos', 'environment/wildlife', 'science/science', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/mammals', 'science/zoology', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'us-news/texas', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/patrick-greenfield', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/series/the-age-of-extinction | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-07-15T07:00:12Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sustainable-business/50m-tonnes-ewaste-designers-manufacturers-recyclers-electronic-junk | 50m tonnes of e-waste generated every year – and it is increasing | The developing world is becoming the west's digital dumping ground. Every year around 50m tonnes of unwanted electronic devices make their way to vast e-waste dumps in Guiyu in China and Agbogbloshie in Ghana – often illegally. Some of them will be repaired and resold. Others will be broken into their components, at considerable expense to the environment and people's health, and sold as raw materials to manufacturers. Yet more will be left as piles of toxic litter. The absurdity of manufacturing a device in China, shipping it around the world to a European consumer and then, when it is disposed of, shipping it straight back to an e-waste dump close to where it was built is not lost on the Electronics TakeBack Coalition (ETBC), a group of organisations that promote green design and responsible recycling in the electronics industry. "We're buying more, getting rid of it [more quickly] and design changes are, in some ways, making recycling even more challenging," says Barbara Kyle, the ETBC's UK co-ordinator. In fact, only around 13% of the e-waste generated each year is recycled. The increasing amounts of digital tech brought by middle-class consumers in China, India and Africa is a growing part of the problem. If the trend continues, the annual amount of global e-waste will be 65m tonnes by 2017, according to the STEP initiative (also known as solving the e-waste problem). Couple this with shortages of some rare earth metals and other resources from mining operations, and it is clear that something needs to change. Part of the solution involves "closing the loop", which in this context means reclaiming and reusing valuable materials from discarded devices in an ethical, environmentally friendly way. Schemes aimed at building connections between designers, manufacturers and end-of-life disposal companies are springing up in response. The Great Recovery project, established by the Technology Strategy Board and the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce) in 2012, aims to build networks to explore manufacturing, design and recycling problems, investigate innovation gaps and incubate partnerships. At the beginning, designers were invited to attend workshops at end-of-life facilities. This showed them what happens to their products after they had been discarded, and better understand the problems of dismantling them for recycling. LCD TVs, for example, can contain more than 250 screws, with 15 different screwdrivers needed to undo them. Mike Pitts, lead sustainability at the Technology Strategy Board, says designers are "starved" of this kind of information. "It's crucial [they] connect with the materials they're working with, and it's quite hard for them to do that," he explains. In the US, a course set up by the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) in conjunction with Purdue University and Tuskegee University is training engineers to develop sustainable alternative electronics materials. Students on the university-based "Global traineeship in sustainable electronics" program are helping to research soy-base resins for circuit board construction, which could one day replace petroleum-based components. "Nanocomposites" made of natural materials, could one day be used for casing and circuit board construction, and are in development, as are adhesives made from marine organisms that could improve the construction and disassembly process for electronic devices. Sustainable materials may be some years away but a new course looking at the environmental and social impact of technology at each stage of a product's life cycle is due to start this spring at the University of Illinois. The focus of sustainable manufacturing is on better use of what is already out there. There are sound financial and ethical reasons for worrying about the life cycle of a product, according to Bibi Bleekemolen, research and outreach officer for Fairphone. She believes that by absolving themselves of responsibility for their products at the point of sale, companies are demonstrating "an economic reasoning [that] bypasses the circularity of the economy ... in a way you're still the owner of what you sell and you still have the responsibility to make sure that the consumer knows what to do with it afterwards, and that you can make use of it yourself again." Environmental Protection Agency figures suggest that recycling 1m mobile phones could recover 50 pounds of gold, 550 pounds of silver, 20 pounds of palladium and more than 20,000 pounds of copper. All of which helps to make the case for "urban mining", reclaiming some of these valuable resources from the mountains of digital junk already out there. "The more urban mining you do … the less copper is needed to be mined from conflict areas," explains Bleekemolen. Fairphone has factored this thinking into its pricing strategy: for every €325 phone sold, €3 is dedicated to collecting old phones in Ghana. Around 75,000 handsets will be collected and transferred to a European recycling facility to extract copper and other materials for future phones, instead of ending up in the world's largest e-dump at Agbogbloshie. Join the community of sustainability professionals and experts. Become a GSB member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox | ['sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'tone/features', 'technology/technology', 'business/technology', 'environment/waste', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'environment/recycling', 'type/article', 'sustainable-business/series/circular-economy', 'profile/duncan-jefferies'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2014-04-02T06:00:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
us-news/2018/oct/11/hurricane-michael-victims-face-another-potential-problem-toxic-red-tide | Hurricane Michael brings new threat to Florida's victims: toxic red tide | If destroyed homes, lost livelihoods and mass power outages were not enough to be dealing with, Florida’s victims of Hurricane Michael are facing another potential problem – the state’s toxic red tide. In the days leading up to the monster storm’s landfall on Wednesday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) found cells of the Karenia brevis organism that causes red tide at two water sampling points close to Panama City and Mexico Beach where the storm swept ashore. The storm surge of up to 14ft then sent Gulf of Mexico waters crashing over the coastal communities of the Florida Panhandle and far inland. Now, marine biologists fear it carried with it red tide toxins that can cause respiratory distress, flu-like symptoms including coughing and eye, nose and throat irritation. “Sometimes you get red tide up there in the Panhandle so that’s the issue, the tide’s right along the coastline and now the hurricane, with the storm surge, is going to carry the toxin inland,” said Larry Brand, professor of marine biology and ecology at the University of Miami. “If you carry it up on to the land, these flooded areas are going to have it so those people will be exposed to the toxin For most it’s a short-term thing, like teargas, irritating your eyes and throat and nose. The good thing is you know right away you’re being exposed to it.” Florida has been battling the scourge of the poisonous red tide algae blooms for most of the summer, with tens of thousands of dead marine life, including fish, dolphins, manatees and turtles, washing up on beaches along the state’s south-western coast. Last week it was confirmed that it had spread for the first time to the Atlantic coast, forcing beaches in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties to close. Activists say the anti-environment policies of the Florida governor, Rick Scott, who they have nicknamed Red Tide Rick, are at least partly responsible for the unprecedented scale of this year’s outbreak of a naturally occurring phenomenon. Other experts share Brand’s concerns of an inland outbreak of red tide-related illness in the Panhandle, but agree the effects would be short-lived. “Algae needs to have a supply of nutrients. If Hurricane Michael moves that algae on to land, it gets spread out, it doesn’t get sustained,” Frank Muller-Karger, professor of biological oceanography at the University of Maryland, told Bloomberg. | ['us-news/florida', 'us-news/hurricane-michael', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/richardluscombe', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | us-news/hurricane-michael | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-10-11T17:27:02Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2022/feb/08/low-energy-efficiency-standards-cost-owners-of-new-homes-234m-last-year | Low energy efficiency standards cost owners of new homes £234m last year | The UK government’s decision to allow homes to be built to low standards of energy efficiency cost owners of newly built homes about £234m last year, analysis shows. The zero carbon homes standard was supposed to come into force in 2016, but the measure, which was introduced under Labour, was scrapped by the Conservative government in 2015. Since 2016, almost 1.2m new homes have been built with energy efficiency standards that are well below those needed in the long term to reach the net zero greenhouse gas emissions target. The Liberal Democrats have calculated that as each home under the zero carbon standard could have expected an energy bill saving of £200 a year, the cumulative cost to households living in newly built homes has been about £790m since 2016. The research follows separate findings from Labour last year that suggested owners of newly built homes would face bills of £20,000 to upgrade them to zero carbon standards, a cost of about £20bn for the whole of the UK. If housebuilders had been forced to meet the zero carbon homes standard, the cost would have been about £5bn, and borne by the lucrative homebuilding industry. The technology needed to build zero carbon homes is already widely available, and in widespread use in other countries. It comprises heat pumps, solar panels, high-grade materials such as thermal glazing, and high-standard insulation. But these technologies are not widely used in the UK for building new homes, as they are more costly than the current building regulations require. Homebuilders have been reluctant to build to such requirements, because although it would mean large savings over many years to the owners of the dwellings, using the necessary materials and techniques would add to their construction costs. Wera Hobhouse, the energy and climate change spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said: “The Conservatives have slapped hundreds of pounds on to people’s heating bills by scrapping energy efficiency standards for new homes. This shameful record has left over 1.2 million more people living in poorly insulated homes, making them even more vulnerable to soaring energy prices. “It shows the Conservatives are more interested in cosying up to their property developer friends than slashing people’s bills and tackling the climate crisis.” Green campaigners and analysts fear the government is planning further cuts to the UK’s spending on insulation and other energy efficiency measures. The Energy Company Obligation, which adds about £1bn a year to energy bills to pay for insulation and energy efficiency measures for the poorest households, is under threat from the Treasury, although it has saved an estimated £11.7bn on bills for people on low incomes. Hobhouse added: “The fact ministers are now considering cutting even more energy efficiency measures shows that they still haven’t learned any lessons from this failure. The government needs to urgently bring back energy efficiency standards for new builds and insulate older homes, so people aren’t condemned to years of eye-watering energy bills.” A government spokesperson said: “Record global gas prices only underscore the importance of our plan to generate more clean power in this country so we can reduce our reliance on expensive, volatile fossil fuels. As such, we have no plans to move away from our green ambitions, and we remain committed to supporting our homegrown renewables sector, investing over £6.6bn to decarbonise homes and buildings across England, and extending the Energy Company Obligation from 2022 to 2026, boosting its value to £1bn a year.” The Conservatives have received an estimated £18m from property developers since Boris Johnson became prime minister. | ['environment/energyefficiency', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'environment/ethical-living', 'uk/uk', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/liberaldemocrats', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/fiona-harvey', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2022-02-08T09:00:18Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2022/aug/21/sizewell-c-nuclear-plant-funding-approved-despite-tory-split | Sizewell C nuclear plant funding approved despite Tory split | Boris Johnson has approved funding for a new nuclear power station at Sizewell in Suffolk in the final weeks of his premiership, but some of Liz Truss’s senior allies are split over the decision. The prime minister and the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, approved financing for the construction of two new reactors known as Sizewell C, enabling private funding of about £20-30bn to be raised. However, Simon Clarke, another key Truss ally and a Treasury minister, warned in a letter leaked to the Sunday Times that the decision could limit Truss’s economic vision. In the letter, he said the costs of Sizewell C were “sufficient to materially affect spending and fiscal choices for an incoming government, especially in the context of wider pressures on the public finances”. In an article for the Mail on Sunday, Kwasi Kwarteng stressed the need to “crack on with more nuclear power stations” in order to increase Britain’s energy security. He gave development consent for Sizewell C in July, but negotiations over the government’s investment decision had been ongoing. A Whitehall source said Boris Johnson had taken the decision to press ahead with Sizewell several weeks ago. However, he dismissed the idea that the move would tie the hands of the next prime minister, following reports that the Truss campaign was worried that it was irreversible. “In the next few weeks, we will announce a government investment decision on Sizewell C where the government formally commits to the project’s financing. It allows the project to raise private capital in the markets. But it’s only at the point of the final investment decision in early 2023 that the government would formalise any equity share.” Johnson’s decision over Sizewell was challenged by a campaign to stop the nuclear reactor being built. A spokesperson for the campaign, Stop Sizewell C, said: “Whatever way you look at it, this is a very dodgy decision. Has it been made by a lame duck PM who is not supposed to tie the hands of his successor, or was it in fact made before Sizewell C was granted planning consent, lending serious weight to our conviction that this was a prejudiced, political decision? “Our next prime minister should call Sizewell C in. There are so many better ways to spend billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money than on a project that won’t light a single lightbulb for at least a decade.” Truss has not stated a clear position on Sizewell C, but hinted last year at concerns about the involvement of China’s state-owned energy company, CGN, as part of a consortium providing funding for the preparatory work at the nuclear plant. She told the Telegraph at the time: “I think it’s very important that we don’t become strategically dependent and I think it’s important that we make sure that we’re working, particularly in areas of critical national infrastructure, with reliable partners.” EDF, the French state energy firm, worked with CGN on the first phase of the project for a new nuclear power station to sit alongside Sizewell B, which is operational, and Sizewell A, which is being decommissioned. The UK government is keen to ease CGN out, however, over concerns about Chinese involvement in sensitive assets. Johnson’s government has already put up £100m of funding this year to support the development of Sizewell C. | ['environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'politics/politics', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'politics/boris-johnson', 'politics/conservative-leadership', 'politics/conservatives', 'politics/kwasi-kwarteng', 'politics/liz-truss', 'uk-news/nadhim-zahawi', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'uk-news/suffolk', 'profile/rowena-mason', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2022-08-21T14:38:35Z | true | ENERGY |
world/2020/jul/22/kenya-environmental-defenders-court-victory-government | Kenya environmental defenders win landmark $12m court battle | Environmental defenders in Kenya are celebrating a landmark $12m court victory against the government that could pave the way for more legal action against polluters. In a case that has attracted international attention, a court in Mombasa has awarded the compensation to residents of the shantytown Owino Uhuru for deaths and health impacts from a nearby lead smelter for recycling batteries. It found the authorities guilty of negligence, the company owners – EPZ and Hezron Awiti’s Penguin Paper and Book Co (no relation to the British publisher) – liable for damages, and ordered a cleanup of the site within four months. The verdict comes after a four-year legal battle by residents initiated by the activist Phyllis Omido, one of the winners of the 2015 Goldman environmental prize. Omido has been threatened by thugs, arrested by police and forced into hiding for organising opposition to the smelter, but she has received support from the local community, regional politicians, NGOs and the UN. The activist said the judgment would make a big difference. “We’re elated. The ruling was very thorough. It will change my people’s lives and improve access to medicines,” said Omido, the founder of the Center for Justice, Governance and Environment Action. Environment and land activists often risk their lives to campaign against powerful companies, corrupt officials and governments that are more focused on economic growth than health. They have notched up several significant victories in recent years. In 2018 a South African activist, Nonhle Mbuthuma, who like Omido has featured in the Guardian’s Defenders series, was part of a successful lawsuit against a titanium mine inside Xolobeni community land on the Wild Coast. | ['world/kenya', 'environment/environment', 'world/africa', 'world/world', 'environment/activism', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jonathanwatts', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2020-07-22T14:59:47Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
sport/2024/oct/02/england-lose-data-edge-excel-cricket-women-t20-world-cup | Women’s T20 World Cup: England lose data edge but still hope to excel | Raf Nicholson | Ever had one of those nightmares where you study your socks off for an exam but when you show up to sit it, the paper in front of you isn’t the one you revised for? If so, you’ll have some sympathy with England’s predicament before the Women’s T20 World Cup which starts on Thursday: not in Bangladesh, as originally intended, but in the UAE. Twelve months ago, the England and Wales Cricket Board hired a head of cricket intelligence, Liam Sanders, and tasked him with helping to achieve something England have not managed since 2009: winning a Women’s T20 World Cup. Sanders and his team gamed every possible scenario, including having the captain, Heather Knight, miss a match against New Zealand in July with just an hour’s notice, mimicking what might happen if illness struck. But in August, with civil unrest in Bangladesh, the ICC announced the tournament was upping sticks. For Sanders and his team, 12 months of work went down the drain. It was back to the drawing board, with a mere six weeks to rejig the plan. England have put a brave face on the move – “I don’t think our plans change too much,” Knight said this week – but it has wiped out any data advantage the ECB hoped to use. The paucity of information available on women’s cricket in the UAE makes planning very difficult: none of the Big Three – England, Australia and India – have played an international there. The men contested the T20 World Cup there in 2021. But given the differences between the women’s and men’s games, there is debate as to whether any meaningful conclusions can be drawn from that. “There’s still a lot of unknowns, especially in Sharjah,” said the England wicketkeeper Amy Jones. “We don’t know what the wickets will be like there yet.” England have one trump card. They have spent two weeks at an acclimatising warmup camp in Abu Dhabi, a stroke of luck given that the camp was organised well before the tournament move. “It’s been very hot, very humid, so it’s been useful having those extra weeks to prepare from that perspective,” Jones said. “In Sharjah, it’s about watching those first couple of games [of the tournament], and trying to pick up anything we can, because it’s very unknown.” England’s first match is on Saturday against Bangladesh. In the meantime, the team’s focus has been on geeing themselves up for what is expected to be a relatively low-key affair. Local enthusiasm for women’s cricket is difficult to whip up at a few weeks’ notice and games are likely to be played out in empty stadiums. “The crowd can really lift your energy, and make it a lot easier to put on a show,” Jones said. “It’s something we’ve spoken about as a team – how can we bring the high-energy game that we want, regardless of what the atmosphere’s like? It’s been on our radar.” England are fortunate to have been drawn in Group B, with Bangladesh, South Africa, West Indies and Scotland, who are making their maiden World Cup appearance after beating Ireland in the global qualifier in May. Group A looks a tougher bet, featuring India, New Zealand, Pakistan, the new Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka, as well as the title holders, Australia. England and Australia – who, if the rankings are to be believed, should meet in the final in Dubai on 20 October – have adopted opposing strategies. Australia will be unleashing their pace duo, Darcie Brown and Tayla Vlaeminck, who (should they remain injury-free) are a formidable new-ball pairing. By contrast, England have one frontline seamer, Lauren Bell, and are resting their hopes on a four-pronged spin attack that includes the left-armer Linsey Smith, playing in her first World Cup since 2018. Conditions could prove tricky for the quartet. Three of England’s four group-stage matches are evening games, and descending dew will make gripping the ball difficult. England won the T20 leg of the multi-format Women’s Ashes in 2023, but their warmup match against Australia last Sunday was a reminder that the aggressive approach favoured by the head coach, Jon Lewis, can also be a volatile one. England lost by 33 runs, thanks to an all-too-familiar middle-order collapse. Jones, though, said the mood in the camp was confident. “The last year has been brilliant – we’ve played some really good cricket.” There is a substantial pot of gold for the team who do triumph. This will be the first ICC event where women will receive the same prize money as their male counterparts – £1.8m, an increase of 134% from the $1m awarded to Australia when they secured the title in South Africa in 2023. | ['sport/england-women-cricket-team', 'sport/womenscricket', 'sport/cricket', 'sport/sport', 'campaign/email/the-spin', 'sport/womens-t20-world-cup-2024', 'sport/women-s-t20-world-cup', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/raf-nicholson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-sport'] | sport/womens-t20-world-cup-2024 | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2024-10-02T15:09:22Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2010/apr/12/us-document-strategy-climate-talks | Confidential document reveals Obama's hardline US climate talk strategy | A document accidentally left on a European hotel computer and passed to the Guardian reveals the US government's increasingly controversial strategy in the global UN climate talks. Titled Strategic communications objectives and dated 11 March 2010, it outlines the key messages that the Obama administration wants to convey to its critics and to the world media in the run-up to the vital UN climate talks in Cancun, Mexico in November. (You can read the document text below). Top of the list of objectives is to: "Reinforce the perception that the US is constructively engaged in UN negotiations in an effort to produce a global regime to combat climate change." It also talks of "managing expectations" of the outcome of the Cancun meeting and bypassing traditional media outlets by using podcasts and "intimate meetings" with the chief US negotiator to disarm the US's harsher critics. But the key phrase is in paragraph three where the author writes: "Create a clear understanding of the CA's [Copenhagen accord's] standing and the importance of operationalising ALL elements." This is the clearest signal that the US will refuse to negotiate on separate elements of the controversial accord, but intends to push it through the UN process as a single "take it or leave it" text. The accord is the last-minute agreement reached at the chaotic Copenhagen summit in December. Over 110 countries are now "associated" with the accord but it has not been adopted by the 192-nation UN climate convention. The US has denied aid to some countries that do not support the accord. The "take it or leave it" approach divided countries in Bonn this weekend and alienated most developing countries including China, India and Brazil who want to take parts of the accord to include in the formal UN negotiations. They say the accord has no legal standing and should not be used as the basis of the final legally binding agreement because it is not ambitious enough. It lacks any specific cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and sets a temperature rise limit of 2C, which critics say is too high to prevent serious harm to Africa and other parts of the world. Last night Jonathan Pershing, lead US negotiator at the Bonn talks, said he "had no knowledge" of the document. But he endorsed one of its key messages. "We are not prepared to see a process go forward in which certain elements are cherry-picked. That was not the agreement we reached in Copenhagen," he said. Text of the leaked document: Strategic communications objectives 1) Reinforce the perception that the US is constructively engaged in UN negotiations in an effort to produce a global regime to combat climate change. This includes support for a symmetrical and legally binding treaty. 2) Manage expectations for Cancun – Without owning the message, advance the narrative that while a symmetrical legally binding treaty in Mexico is unlikely, solid progress can be made on the six or so main elements. 3) Create a clear understanding of the CA's standing and the importance of operationalising ALL elements. 4) Build and maintain outside support for the administration's commitment to meeting the climate and clean energy challenge despite an increasingly difficult political environment to pass legislation. 5) Deepen support and understanding from the developing world that advanced developing countries must be part of any meaningful solution to climate change including taking responsibilities under a legally binding treaty. Media outreach • Continue to conduct interviews with print, TV and radio outlets driving the climate change story. • Increase use of off-the-record conversations. • Strengthen presence in international media markets during trips abroad. Focus efforts on radio and television markets. • Take greater advantage of new media opportunities such as podcasts to advance US position in the field bypassing traditional media outlets. • Consider a series of policy speeches/public forums during trips abroad to make our case directly to the developing world. Key outreach efforts • Comprehensive and early outreach to policy makers, key stakeholders and validators is critical to broadening support for our positions in the coming year. • Prior to the 9-11 April meeting in Bonn it would be good for Todd to meet with leading NGOs. This should come in the form of 1:1s and small group sessions. • Larger group sessions, similar to the one held at CAP prior to Copenhagen, will be useful down the line, but more intimate meetings in the spring are essential to building the foundation of support. Or at the very least, disarming some of the harsher critics. | ['environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/copenhagen', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/obama-administration', 'environment/cancun-climate-change-conference-2010', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2010-04-12T09:05:11Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
news/2014/sep/10/weatherwatch-freak-waves | Weatherwatch: The reality behind rogue waves | Sailors' stories of waves taller than the ship's mast were long assumed to be exaggerations. One Victorian scientist declared that waves more than eighteen metres high were physically impossible. In the mid-20th century researchers thought that when two sets of waves met, the result was no higher than the sum of the wave heights added together; even tsunamis are small in deep water. This picture was disturbed by apparently reliable reports of monster waves. In 1860, a wave tore the fog bell off the Bishop Lighthouse in the Scilly Isles, thirty metres above sea level. In 1934 sailors on the US Navy tanker USS Ramapo measured a wave towering some thirty-four metres. Freak waves were believed to occur only once in several thousand years. Then, in the 1960s, two Cambridge scientists, Benjamin and Feir, developed a theory that waves with a long wavelength could catch up with shorter waves and pile up into a single huge wave. Experiments in a wave tank supported the theory. Researchers now focus on predicting when and where rogue waves will appear, and have identified "crossing seas" where different wave systems tend to converge. They have also developed models to calculate the likelihood of giant waves in a given area, known as the Benjamin-Feir index, but this is only updated twice a day. Real-time warnings will take a continuous stream of sensor data from ships' radars, and huge amounts of computing power. Improved rogue wave warnings could be a life-saver. Even large modern vessels can be damaged or sunk if one of these monsters hits without warning. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/davidhambling', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2014-09-10T20:30:00Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2022/jul/24/anglian-water-chief-lands-13m-pay-despite-two-star-pollution-rating | Anglian Water chief lands £1.3m pay despite two-star pollution rating | The boss of a water company with one of the worst pollution records in England has been handed more than £1m in pay and bonuses. Anglian Water chief executive Peter Simpson faces criticism after he landed a “substantial” £337,651 bonus as part of a £1.3m pay package. The reward comes despite English water firms overseeing such shocking levels of pollution that the Environment Agency has said water company bosses should be jailed for serious offences. Anglian Water recorded nearly a quarter of all serious pollution incidents in 2021, according to the agency. It had the third-highest rate of total pollution incidents per 10,000 square kilometres with 34, behind Southern Water with 94 and South West Water with 87. Anglian was given two stars out of five in the EA’s performance rating, meaning it requires significant improvement. Anglian Water Services’ annual report now shows Simpson and chief financial officer Steve Buck saw their maximum bonuses cut by 45% after missing customer delivery targets, which included goals on pollution and flooding. Simpson saw 5% of his 2019 bonus clawed back too. Simpson’s base salary rose to £531,365 in 2021-22, up from £505,277 a year earlier. Buck received a £919,253 pay package including a £228,243 bonus. Rival utility company Thames Water is also facing heat for handing its chief executive, Sarah Bentley, £727,000 worth of bonuses despite its own poor performance on pollution. The bulk of Bentley’s bonus will be distributed as part of a £3.1m “golden handshake” sign-on payment that is reportedly to be distributed to her within days of the EA report’s release. The agency also gave Thames Water a two-star rating. Natalie Ceeney, chair of Anglian’s remuneration committee and an experienced former civil servant, said: “Our environmental performance in 2021-22, including on pollution and flooding, haven’t reached the levels our customers, stakeholders and regulators expect from us. “We are very clear that poor performance should not be rewarded. As such, our underperformance in these key areas cancels out strong performance in other areas such as leakage. “This means the performance measures element of the bonus scheme will not pay out at all this year.” Simpson’s overall package, which was benchmarked against his peers’, fell 37% from £2.1m the year before. However, pay campaigners said the curbs did not go far enough. Andrew Speke of the High Pay Centre thinktank said: “When the Environment Agency is calling for water company bosses to be jailed over their record on pollution, boards of the worst offending companies should be taking serious action to improve the management of their companies. “So for Anglian Water, one of the worst offenders, to be awarding their CEO a substantial bonus shows that the rot goes deep in this sector. “It’s time for the government to intervene and either increase regulation or bring the sector into public ownership, because the current model is failing people and the environment.” Anglian Water Services has proposed a final dividend of £169m which was reduced by £9m to “reflect the outcome delivery incentives penalty in the period”. The firm expects to pay a £8.3m penalty after missing targets including on pollution, flooding and burst mains. Nearly £92m of the dividend will be paid to the company’s ultimate owners – a collection of pension and infrastructure funds in the UK, Australia and Canada as well as an investment group based in Luxembourg and owned by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Anglian said its shareholders had not received a dividend payment since 2017 and had invested over £1.1bn into the business. The company has also set up an “escaped sewage cell” – a dedicated team tackling pollution using “military planning methods”. | ['business/executive-pay-bonuses', 'environment/water', 'business/business', 'environment/pollution', 'uk/uk', 'business/utilities', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alex-lawson', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-07-24T13:08:40Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
science/2017/apr/16/rhododendron-ponticum-thug-invasive-out-of-control-plantwatch | A spectacular thug is out of control | Rhododendrons are flowering now in a magnificent springtime spectacle – but they are thugs, invading some of our finest and most precious countryside with catastrophic impacts on wild plants and animals. Rhododendron ponticum was first brought to Britain, probably from Spain or Portugal, around 1763 for botanical gardens and used on big estates as cover for game birds. But the shrub has spread out of control with huge damage to many native woodlands, heaths and other wild places like the Snowdonia national park. The plant now covers 98,700 hectares, roughly 3.3 per cent of Britain’s total woodland, a report by the Forestry Commission found, and Scotland has been hit particularly hard, where it covers 53,000 hectares. Rhododendron grows into huge bushes with thick vegetation that blocks out sunlight and smothers most other wild plants and trees, stopping them from growing or regenerating. Its leaves are toxic to animals and repels wildlife from earthworms to birds. Many bushes have become infected with the highly pernicious tree disease called sudden oak death that threatens many types of trees and shrubs. Outbreaks of the disease in the UK, especially on larch trees, have often been linked to Rhododendron ponticum. Each plant can produce one million or more tiny seeds each year that spread in the wind, and it also spreads with massive tangles of branches rooting in the ground. The plant is incredibly difficult to get rid of by digging up or using herbicides. Snowdonia national park and several other sensitive areas have tried to destroy the invading rhododendron involving hundreds of people over many years digging up the plant. It’s expensive, time-consuming and takes years to completely eradicate. | ['science/series/plantwatch', 'environment/invasive-species', 'environment/forests', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'science/science', 'environment/wildlife', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/paulsimons', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2017-04-16T20:30:03Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
money/blog/2014/jun/07/used-reclaimed-kitchen-ikea | I want a used or reclaimed kitchen – or should I just head down to Ikea? | Every week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it's up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday's paper. This week's question We need a new kitchen for the house we are doing up, and I'd really like to try and find a used or reclaimed one. I've seen a few for sale on eBay starting at £50, but has anyone in the real world (ie, not on a reality TV show) actually done it? I really need some pointers. Was it successful and would you do it again? Or do I just follow everyone else down to the nearest Ikea and buy a new one? What would you do? Have you got a personal finance question you want readers to answer? Email money@theguardian.com | ['money/series/personaleffects', 'money/blog', 'money/homeimprovements', 'money/consumer-affairs', 'money/money', 'lifeandstyle/diy', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/money'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2014-06-07T06:00:40Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
news/2020/feb/05/weatherwatch-bangladesh-among-most-risk-rising-sea-levels | Weatherwatch: Bangladesh among most at risk from rising sea levels | Of all the countries at risk from the consequences of the climate emergency, the largest and most populous is Bangladesh. Home to more than 160 million people in an area barely larger than England, the country’s average altitude is less than 10m above sea level, making it very vulnerable to sea level rises. Like much of the Indian subcontinent, Bangladesh has a tropical monsoon climate, with a cool, dry season from October to February, a hot, humid season from March to June and a rainy season from June to October. Typical locations get 150-250cm (60-100in) of rain a year, while towards the east of the country there may be as much as 375cm (150in). Heavy rainfall often brings flooding, as the waters enter the sea via the huge deltas of the Brahmaputra and Ganges rivers, which drain into the Bay of Bengal. In autumn this may be exacerbated by tropical cyclones, whose heavy winds and torrential downpours can lead to storm surges, as happened from 2007 to 2009. These do not just cause immediate death and destruction, but also damage land needed to grow crops such as rice to feed the large and growing population. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'world/bangladesh', 'world/south-and-central-asia', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/stephenmoss1', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | news/series/weatherwatch | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-02-05T21:30:20Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
world/2019/jul/09/vienna-euro-a-day-public-transport-berlin-365-annual-ticket | Vienna’s euro-a-day public transport model could waltz into Berlin | Berliners could pay as little as €1 a day to use public transport for a year under plans to wean the German capital off its cars and reduce air pollution, its mayor has announced. “Step by step I want to follow the goal of introducing an annual public transport ticket for €365,” Michael Müller told Neue Zürcher Zeitung. An annual ticket normally costs €761. Such a move would make Berlin the latest German city to emulate what has come to be known as the “Vienna model”: public transport use in the Austrian capital has shot up since the operator Wiener Linien lowered the price of an annual season ticket from €449 to €365 in May 2012. In Vienna, 822,000 people, almost half the city’s population, have an annual ticket, and the percentage of journeys made by underground, tram or bus has increased to 38% – compared with 27% in Berlin, 23% in Munich and 18% in Hamburg. Several German cities are investigating season-ticket models along Viennese lines, as city authorities across Europe examine ways to meet EU pollution targets. A €365 ticket has been trialled since the start of the year in Bonn and the south-west city of Reutlingen. Under the umbrella of the “lead city” initiative, Essen, Herrenberg and Mannheim will also receive funding from the federal government to examine whether other forms of reduced-priced ticketing can persuade locals to leave their cars behind and hop on a bus or subway instead. Munich is also looking into ways to fund a €365 annual travel ticket after the Bavarian state premier, Markus Söder, called for such a scheme on the campaign trail last year. Yet many municipal authorities are finding that slashing ticket prices comes with fresh challenges. If €365 tickets manage to increase the number of people using public transport, network providers also need to buy bigger or longer trains and pay for them to shuttle people across the city at shorter intervals. In Vienna’s case, Wiener Linien receives €700m in subsidies from the city and the national government a year. Two measures have helped to stem the cost: raising parking fines by 60% since 2012; and a “subway tax” for employers, which amounts to about €2 a month for each employee. In the “car nation” of Germany, there are concerns that cities either lack the means to subsidise a switch to public transport, or that citizens are more reluctant to part with their vehicles. In Bonn, only 5,258 out of 17,000 available €365 season tickets have been taken up since the two-year trial was introduced on 1 January. A spokesperson for the local transport network said it expected uptake to increase as old season tickets ran out over the course of the coming months. But the trial has already illustrated the scale of the challenge: a permanent offer of €1-a-day travel would cost a relatively small city like Bonn an additional €23m a year. In Berlin, a similar scheme would come with additional annual costs of about €100m, according to the newspaper Tagesspiegel. The Green party, a junior coalition partner in the city government, has voiced reservations about Müller’s proposal. “The proposal came as a surprise,” a transport spokesman, Harald Moritz, told Berliner Zeitung. “Somehow you have to make up the difference – and for now that would fall on the taxpayer.” | ['cities/cities', 'world/germany', 'environment/air-pollution', 'cities/series/cities-in-motion', 'world/europe-news', 'world/world', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/philip-oltermann', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/air-pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-07-09T16:39:47Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
us-news/2018/aug/17/california-wildfires-livestream-security-cameras | Californians watch wildfires burn their houses via home security cameras | The Holy fire was raging through southern California’s Cleveland national forest, and his family had already complied with a mandatory evacuation order, but Daniel Perez decided to take the risk anyway. At lunchtime on Thursday 9 August, Perez convinced public officials to allow him to return to his evacuated neighborhood for one last thing: to turn on his home security cameras, connect them to the internet, and point them in the direction of the oncoming flames. “I went back to work, went about my day, occasionally checking my phone,” Perez recalled. “Then, around 4.45pm, I noticed that my cameras went into night vision.” Through the dark pink tint of the night vision lens, Perez watched as “little glowing things” – burning embers, he soon realized – blew toward his house. “When they landed, they stayed glowing, and I said, ‘OK, here we go,’” Perez said. “I just watched live as everything went from normal to up in flames, and I’m just sitting at work, shaking.” As internet-connected home security cameras grow in popularity and climate-change fueled natural disasters continue to ravage communities around the globe, a new phenomenon has emerged: witnessing your worst nightmare, remotely. “I had my co-workers next to me, and they couldn’t believe it,” Perez said. “I was looking at my hands. That was a moment I’ll never forget. Just knowing that that’s your house, and you don’t know what could happen at any second – it was a frightening experience.” A neighbor of Perez, Frank Grosso, had only moved into his new house in a small community about 45 miles south-east of Los Angeles one month before the Holy fire threatened. Grosso, his wife, and their dog evacuated to a family member’s home in Orange county, and Grosso, who said he always had security cameras in his homes, made sure that one of his eight cameras was pointing toward the canyon out the back. “All day, I was watching the fire march toward my house,” Grosso recalled. “Then all of a sudden, I got notified that someone was coming toward my door” – a notification that arrived on his smartphone. The visitor was a firefighter checking to see if anyone was home, and using his wifi-connected, video doorbell, the 40-year-old Grosso was able to respond. “I was just saying, ‘I’m not there, I’m okay, don’t break the door,’” Grosso said. When the firefighter left to battle the flames, Grosso and his wife followed along, switching from camera to camera on his smartphone to see the firefight in action. “It was just crazy just watching it live, and all the emotions,” Grosso said. “I watched it all from my phone.” Both Grosso and Perez were lucky: the firefighters saved their homes. Grosso has established a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for county firefighters in thanks for their work. The Holy fire, which officials believe was started intentionally, swept through nearly 23,000 acres and is now largely contained. Both men said they were happy to have been able to witness the disaster, though Perez was conflicted about whether he should have told his wife what was happening. “I’m the type of person who would rather know,” he said. “I’d rather see it. I saw it. And now I know what to expect.” | ['us-news/california', 'world/wildfires', 'technology/technology', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/natural-disasters', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/julia-carrie-wong', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-08-17T22:42:46Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
media/2022/jul/17/wildfires-worldwide-what-the-front-pages-say | ‘Avalanche of fires’: what the front pages around the world say | The wildfires that have raged in Europe, Africa and North America in recent days have provided some dramatic front pages for newspapers across the world. Among the worst fires have been in Portugal, where the Correio de Manhã has a front page headline reading “Panic and despair”. In neighbouring Spain, the ABC newspaper declares an “Avalanche of fires out of control”. The Observer splashes on a warning from Alok Sharma, the Tory cabinet minister who led last year’s landmark Cop26 UN climate summit, that he may resign if the incoming prime minister fails to commit to net zero plans. The Daily Mirror saying the British PM is having another party while the UK scorches, and has the headline “Boris’ heatrave”. A stark image on the front of Croatian newspaper 24sata shows the normally idyllic Dalmation coast with the simple headline “hell”. Simon Evans, deputy editor of Carbon Brief, tweeted out a string of the front pages after noticing how many outlets had devoted their main coverage to the issue. “We spend a lot of time tracking global media coverage, so I knew the current record-breaking heat was widespread,” he said. “But even I was shocked at just how many newspapers around the world have highlighted this climate change-fuelled collective crisis of heatwaves and wildfires in recent days.” In Greece, the paper Kathimerini has been reporting on wildfires that have again lit the country in flames. French newspaper Libèration also urges the public of the foreboding effects of climate change and fast-rising temperatures. From the Turkish Milliyet, readers are confronted with the “Red nightmare” that terrorises the country. Canada suffered some of its worst ever fires last year and they are back again this year with a large blaze burning near the town of Lytton, the Vancouver Sun reports, which was destroyed in 2021’s disaster. Rising temperatures are also causing alarm in Asia, where the Global Times has this front page. | ['media/series/the-front-pages', 'world/wildfires', 'world/extreme-weather', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/summer', 'type/article', 'world/france', 'world/spain', 'tone/news', 'profile/martinfarrer', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-foreign'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2022-07-17T05:10:16Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2021/jul/22/great-britain-faces-risk-of-winter-blackouts-system-operator-warns | Great Britain faces rising risk of winter blackouts, system operator warns | Great Britain faces its greatest risk of blackouts for six years this winter as old coal plants and nuclear reactors shut down and energy demand rises as the economy emerges from Covid-19 restrictions. National Grid’s electricity system operator, which is responsible for keeping the lights on, said it expected the country’s demand for electricity to return to normal levels this winter, and would be braced for “some tight periods”. The system operator published a surprise report warning that the tight electricity supplies recorded last winter could be tighter in the winter ahead due to “uncertainty” over the country’s power supplies. It said that in some scenarios the “margin” of forecast electricity supplies might exceed demand by 5.3%, the tightest margin recorded since the winter of 2015-2016, when National Grid was forced to ask businesses to reduce their electricity usage to keep the lights on after a spate of breakdowns at coal plants. National Grid has traditionally published its forecasts for the winter in September but surprised the market on Thursday by issuing a preview report. “Following tighter margins in winter 2020-21 compared to previous winters, we have decided to publish an early view of the margin for winter 2021-22. We believe this will help to inform the electricity industry and support preparations for the winter ahead,” it said. The system operator issued a string of official warnings that electricity supplies were under pressure last year, despite a 3-4% slump in energy demand as people stayed away from offices, pubs and restaurants during the Covid-19 pandemic. The UK was forced to rely on its last remaining coal power plants to meet demand during cold, still periods when demand was high and wind speeds low last winter. This year it could be more difficult to cover the loss of a sudden outage at a power plant, subsea power cable or low wind speeds due to the closure of older nuclear plants. The system operator has assumed that the Dungeness B and Hunterston B nuclear power stations will not be available for the full winter, and that the Baglan Bay, Severn Power and Sutton Bridge gas power stations will remain unavailable. “While we remain confident there is sufficient supply to meet peak demand, we should prepare for some tight periods during the winter” because there “is still some uncertainty” about electricity supplies, the electricity system operator said. | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/nationalgrid', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'environment/coal', 'environment/energy', 'uk/uk', 'business/business', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jillian-ambrose', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2021-07-22T20:41:49Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2023/jul/27/boxing-has-cookie-cutter-approach-to-concussion-and-lacks-cte-prevention-strategies-shane-tuck-inquiry-told | Boxing has ‘cookie-cutter’ approach to concussion and lacks CTE prevention strategies, Shane Tuck inquiry told | The new head of Victoria’s professional boxing regulator has embraced criticism the sport has a “cookie-cutter” approach to concussion and lacks CTE prevention strategies, an inquest has heard. Alan Clayton, chair of the Professional Boxing and Combat Sports Board, told the inquest into former AFL footballer Shane Tuck’s death the organisation was “receptive” to the assessment of the internationally renowned neurosurgeon Dr Robert Cantu, whose report he called “a really powerful piece of work”. Cantu told the inquiry on Wednesday night the Victorian boxing board was not doing enough to address the issue of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the debilitating neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head trauma and increasingly linked to long-term exposure to contact sports. “Your focus was very much on concussion,” Cantu said. “I did not find much about CTE and long term effects and I think that is a major concern, at least for me.” Boxing’s concussion management strategies, including its recommended stand-down periods of 30 days, were “cookie-cutter stuff”, Cantu said. “All concussions are not the same,” Cantu said. “These are kind of rough guidelines. What’s really more important is the severity of the injury and how the individual is doing and that should really guide how long somebody stays out, rather than … some arbitrary amount of time.” Cantu also mentioned the vascular changes, inflammation and other long-term effects of repeated head trauma “that can give rise to symptoms even without CTE” – and were first seen in boxers and documented in the 1920s – as causes of concern for player health in the sport. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Tuck, who played 173 AFL games for Richmond Football Club between 2004 and 2013, later had a brief boxing career, from 2015 to 2017. He killed himself at the age of 38 in July 2020. Tuck, who self-reported numerous concussions during his sporting career and later suffered from rapidly worsening mental health, was found by the Australian Sports Brain Bank to have suffered from severe CTE. It can only be definitively diagnosed by autopsy. Coroner John Cain said in his opening address last week much of the focus of the inquest would be on head trauma in Australian rules football and in boxing, and the opportunities to reduce or minimise those risks. Cantu told the court on Wednesday he thought it was “not only important, but I think it’s correct” for players, parents and officials at junior, grassroots and amateur levels of boxing and Australian rules football to be educated about concussion, subconcussive trauma and CTE, as well as professionals. “I think it’s very appropriate that the long-term risks of sustaining repetitive traumatic brain injuries is understood not only by professionals that play the sport for money, but especially for amateurs, and especially our youth,” Cantu said. Cantu’s evidence on Wednesday regarding boxing echoed evidence he gave last week that focused on Australian rules football. He told the court last weekhe saw a “missed opportunity” for the AFL to focus on prevention of CTE and long-term damage in players, including from sub-concussive trauma; that is, the jolts and blows that cause damage to the brain but don’t result in clinical symptoms. Clayton, a former Greyhound Racing Victoria executive, said on Thursday he believed understanding and management of brain injuries across the sport ought to be improved. “We can’t have cookie-cutter responses to these things. It’s got to be based on medical assessments of individuals and their capability to heal,” Clayton said. “We’re very receptive to the comments that he’s making.” It was important trainers, promoters and others involved in the boxing business first understood the issues with player health were “not just concussion”, Clayton said. Clayton said while the board accepted the broad criticisms from Cantu, it had made no decisions with respect to how those criticisms might be adopted in educational materials or head trauma-related policies. Boxing regulation across Australia is state-based, patchy and inconsistent. Clayton rejected the notion, put to him by counsel assisting the coroner Gideon Boas, that there was any “appetite or interest” among regulatory bodies to nationalise their operations. Clayton said there was interest from the boxing board in funding a study into the recent Australian deaths from boxing, and that any data collected about the brain health of combat sportspeople would probably affect the development of boxing policies. The inquest continues. | ['australia-news/australia-news', 'sport/concussion-in-sport', 'sport/australia-sport', 'sport/sport', 'sport/australian-rules-football', 'law/law-australia', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'sport/afl', 'sport/boxing', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/stephanie-convery', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | sport/concussion-in-sport | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2023-07-27T05:46:17Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
business/2019/jan/28/morrisons-to-trial-paper-bags-for-groceries-and-higher-price-for-plastic-bags | Morrisons to trial paper bags for groceries and higher price for plastic bags | Morrisons is to trial the launch of large paper bags for groceries at supermarket check-outs and is raising the price of its plastic bags by 50%. The supermarket will now charge 15p instead of 10p for its cheapest standard plastic bag, while testing out US-style paper grocery bags with handles costing 20p. Morrisons said the paper bags, which can be reused and recycled, were being introduced due to consumer demand, although they will initially only be available in eight of its 493 stores: Camden and Wood Green in London; Skipton, Hunslet and Yeadon in Yorkshire; Erskine in Scotland; Gibraltar; and Abergavenny, Wales. The chain eliminated its 5p carrier bags early last year, reducing overall bag sales by a quarter. Andy Atkinson, Morrisons’ group customer and marketing director, said: “These new paper bags do exactly the same job as standard plastic carrier bags. They are tough, reusable and can help keep a large amount of plastic out of the environment.” Some have expressed concern that paper bags could have a greater impact on the environment than plastic alternatives in terms of the energy use in production, an objection raised when Morrisons – and more recently, M&S – switched to selling loose fruit and vegetables in paper rather than plastic bags. However, Julian Kirby, waste and resources campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “We welcome this – especially if they scale up from a trial. What stands out is that the bags are designed to be reused and will be less resource intensive to produce than the heavier duty tote bags and fully recyclable. It would be better still if they were made from recycled material themselves.” According to government figures in 2018, the number of single-use plastic carrier bags sold per year by seven supermarket chains – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, M&S, the Co-op and Waitrose, along with Morrisons – has dropped to just over 1bn, down from more than 7bn before mandatory charges were introduced for large retailers in 2015. The government is consulting on raising the levy to 10p per bag and including smaller shops from next year. Meanwhile, Waitrose has launched a new £1m grant fund – using cash from the sale of plastic bags – for projects helping to cut plastic packaging and pollution. | ['business/morrisons', 'business/business', 'business/retail', 'business/supermarkets', 'environment/plastic', 'environment/environment', 'environment/plastic-bags', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/waste', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/gwyntopham', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/plastic | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2019-01-28T06:01:54Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2014/mar/04/waste-crime-costs-uk-report | Waste crime costs UK more than half a billion pounds a year, report warns | Fly-tipping, illegal tips and tax evasion are costing the UK more than half a billion pounds a year, according to a report on waste crime. Crimes such as dumped building rubble and deliberate misclassification of waste to evade tax are "widespread and endemic", according to the report commissioned by the Environmental Services Association Education Trust (ESAET) and conducted by Eunomia. But despite the scale of the problem, the Environment Agency, that tackles waste crime, is set to lose 1,700 staff by the end of the year and has admitted it expects to "reduce our work on illegal waste activities". The Sentencing Council last week recommended increasing fines for waste dumping, from well below £1m to up to £3m. Barry Dennis, a trustee of the ESAET charity, said: "We need to stop thinking about 'waste crime' as somehow being less important than other crimes. Fly-tipping, rogue waste operations and tax evasion via the misclassification of waste are crimes that create health risks for the public, are costing the taxpayer millions of pounds a year and are funding organised crime." Dennis notes in the report that "it seems inconceivable that such serious financial pressure [on the EA] will not mean a squeeze on enforcement." The EA's core spending was £17.4m in 2011-12, falling to £16.9m in 2012-13. ESAET estimate the cost of waste crime to be between £324m to £808m, with a best estimate of £568m, caused by loss of revenue for legal waste sites, tax evasion where, for example, hazardous waste is deliberately classified as standard, and the clean-up costs of fly-tipping. The report cites several cases of extreme waste crime, including the case of Allan Priest, who allowed 400 tonnes of household waste to be dumped on a trading estate in the Black Country despite not having a permit. He was eventually sentenced to eight months in prison. Local authorities dealt with more than 711,000 incidents of fly-tipping alone in 2012-13. As well as financial losses, the report notes that waste crime has environmental and health impacts. "Waste criminals don't recycle, and so frustrate efforts to move material up the waste hierarchy. When waste is illegally exported for cheap, unregulated reprocessing, people in developing countries are exposed to pollution we wouldn't tolerate here," it said. An EA spokeswoman said: "At this time we are prioritising incident response above all other work. The detail of how different teams within the Environment Agency will be affected is not yet finalised." | ['environment/waste', 'environment/environment', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment-agency', 'tone/news', 'uk/uk', 'uk/ukcrime', 'type/article', 'profile/adam-vaughan'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2014-03-04T06:30:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
technology/2014/dec/12/hadouken-is-real-pyro-wristband-shoots-fireballs | Hadouken is real: Pyro wristband shoots fireballs | Stuck for a Christmas present that is a tad more exciting than socks or a book token? How about a gadget that shoots fireballs from the wrist? Developed by illusionist Adam Wilber, the Pyro wristband has four barrels, allowing four fireballs to shoot simultaneously, and has a reach of 30 feet. The flash gun, designed to be hidden under a sleeve, ignites chemically-embedded flash paper which burns rapidly, causing the fireball effect. In a slickly produced video that featuring fast cars, desert landscapes and brooding rock music, Wilber says the $174 (£111) product is for “superheroes”. Oddly, the video also boasts that this “badass professional device” comes with a “jam-packed instructional download”, which as far as excitement goes, does not quite get the pulse racing. Pyro should appeal to both fans of the superhero genre, as well as devotees of the Street Fighter video game, in which fireballs, known as “hadouken” are a popular mode of attack for various characters including Oni and Sakura. Various Pokémon also boast fire-shooting ability, with a whole litany of flame-based attacks. The wristband is available to purchase from the Ellusionist website. It might not go down so well with the rest of the family, however. • Hey, McFly! Hoverboard available on Kickstarter for $10,000 | ['technology/gadgets', 'technology/technology', 'games/games', 'games/pokemon', 'technology/wearable-technology', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/hannah-jane-parkinson'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-12-12T16:02:31Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
commentisfree/2011/sep/01/climate-change-storm-extreme-events | Climate change: an eye on the storms | Andrew Simms | When Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79 the residents of Pompeii were taken entirely by surprise. Inactive for more than 1,000 years, the local people living in its shadow didn't even realise Vesuvius was a volcano. But when it blew they had a choice: chance it and stay, or run. The eruption lasted two days, and from a town of 20,000 inhabitants, evidence of around 5,000 buried in the ash and pumice remains. It doesn't mean all the others got away, but some did, and it shows people were divided about what to do. Many Americans must have felt similarly torn when President Obama took the unusual step of warning about the "historic" threat from Hurricane Irene, and the residents of New York City were reminded of their vulnerability and immense natural forces as a state of emergency was declared. Some might see irony in the president's warning, as his administration was simultaneously committing itself to develop some of the world's dirtiest fossil fuels, such as backing a pipeline to carry oil from Canadian tar sands to Texas. Protests against Obama's decisions saw a wave of arrests, ranging from Nasa climate scientist James Hansen to author and activist Bill McKibben. To be ironic, however, there would have to be a link between extreme events like Irene, and the global warming that results from burning fossil fuels. And we all know that direct attribution between particular events and the long-term warming of the atmosphere is not possible, don't we? In fact, it's no longer that simple. While both scientific and more ideological debates rage, a relationship between warming and extreme events has been quietly working its way into economic risk assessment. The insurance industry hasn't waited for definitive proof of attribution, or been distracted by the bluster of debate, because it works on the basis of probabilities, and it's been clear for some time that these are changing. In 2003, the climate scientist Myles Allen explained in the science journal Nature how they do it. Insurers, for example, will raise the cost of premiums to householders where warming creates an increased risk of flooding. All you have to do, wrote Allen, is work out a "mean likelihood-weighted liability by averaging over all possibilities consistent with currently available information". So, if past greenhouse gas emissions have increased flood risk (or storm damage, or crop loss due to drought) tenfold, 90% of the damage caused by a flood might be attributed to past emissions. Insurance costs get incurred in advance due to changing risks. But similar calculations could possibly be used in "tort" style claims after extreme events to seek compensation for actual damages. In this way attribution becomes an economic reality owing to observed changes before more narrow cause-and-effect relationships to particular events are established. But, here too, the science is getting more confident. Two pieces of research published in Nature earlier this year made the case that the fingerprint of human-driven global warming could be seen in a number of recent extreme events. In a warmer world, the atmosphere holds more water, creating bigger events. As the paper by lead author Seung-Ki Min points out, "atmospheric water content is increasing in accord with this theoretical expectation". That research found that "human-induced increases in greenhouse gases have contributed to the observed intensification of heavy precipitation events found over approximately two-thirds of … Northern Hemisphere land areas", for which data was available. It also concluded that current models were underestimating actual extreme events. Another paper looking at flooding in the UK in October and November 2000, the wettest autumn since records began in 1766, found that warming had increased flood risk by over 20% in nine out of 10 cases, and up to 90% in two thirds of cases. Separately, warming was found to have doubled the likelihood of the extreme European heatwave of 2003. All this leaves us with a rather simple conundrum. How bad do things have to get, how loud does the mountain have to rumble and the ground shake before, in policy terms, we decide to leave the old town and build our livelihoods on more secure ground? In giving his warnings about the storm hitting the eastern seaboard, Obama was driven to distinguish himself from George Bush's incompetent handling of Hurricane Katrina and the wrecking of New Orleans. But if he can't distinguish himself from Bush's other defining association, with the oil industry, ultimately he'll be the man that history remembers for telling people to shelter in their homes beneath the active volcano. | ['environment/series/100-months-to-save-the-world', 'world/natural-disasters', 'us-news/hurricane-irene', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'tone/comment', 'type/article', 'profile/andrewsimms'] | us-news/hurricane-irene | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-09-01T08:30:01Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/cif-green/2011/jan/27/green-growth-ban-ki-moon | Ban Ki-moon's green growth agenda can bring climate to the heart of the UN | Yvo de Boer | The Cancún climate change conference in December brought the UN negotiating process back from the precipice. It managed to formalise rich country targets tabled a year earlier in Copenhagen, captured major developing country commitments to action and promises significant financial resources for poor nations. But perhaps most significantly Cancún delivered a roadmap for national action that revolves around national plans, intensified reporting requirements and the potential for future market-based approaches. In doing this, Cancún also heralded two significant shifts. First a shift away from a top-down approach where targets are set internationally, towards a far more bottom-up approach that leaves countries free to formulate their own plans, but within a framework that revolves around international monitoring, reporting and verification. Secondly Cancún moved climate action away from a standalone issue and embedded it in the concept of sustainable growth plans. From here on the focus needs to be on implementation and convincingly making the green growth case at the national level. No mean feat, given that the concept of green growth enjoys near universal lip-service, while there is little real evidence that it can be made to work in practice. Advancing the climate negotiations has been a top priority for UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon since the beginning of his tenure and he can rightly claim credit for what has been achieved. Now he must shift the UN's focus to take climate into the mainstream debate on sustainable development. The 2012 celebration of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development represents a unique lens to bring this new focus. In all probability it will focus on two major themes: green growth and (related) reform of the United Nations system. By strategically broadening his focus from climate to sustainable growth, Ban has the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. He can bring the Cancún action agenda into the heart of the green growth debate, while at the same time showing that the UN system can help deliver on an agenda that is of direct economic, social and environmental relevance to member countries. This is sorely needed for two reasons. First because the fight to combat climate change can only be won successfully if the economics of this can be argued and demonstrated convincingly. Secondly because the UN system does need to adjust to the emerging challenges the world is facing. The UN currently has no platform where governments can discuss energy issues. Environment, industry and development policy are fragmented over different institutions. The UN's relationship with its financial arm, the World Bank, also needs significant strength. A shift in focus now can bring the UN new relevance and an opportunity to force some urgently needed change. • Yvo De Boer is a senior adviser at KPMG, and formerly executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change | ['environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/copenhagen', 'environment/cancun-climate-change-conference-2010', 'environment/kyoto-protocol', 'environment/environment', 'world/ban-ki-moon', 'world/world', 'world/unitednations', 'tone/comment', 'commentisfree/cif-green', 'commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/sustainable-development', 'type/article'] | environment/sustainable-development | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2011-01-27T16:03:18Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2018/sep/28/uks-children-denied-basic-human-right-to-clean-air-says-unicef | UK's children denied basic human right to clean air, says Unicef | Children in the UK are being denied their basic human right to breathe clean air and facing a long term “health crisis” because of the toxic fumes they breathe on their way to and from school, according to leading children’s charity Unicef. The organisation, which campaigns on children’s rights and wellbeing around the world, described the situation in the UK as “horrific” and has announced it is to make protecting youngsters from air pollution its priority across the country in the months ahead. “I have been amazed as the picture has emerged showing us just exactly what the impact of air pollution is on children in the UK,” said Alastair Harper from Unicef UK. “Research is coming out all the time showing us how these toxic emissions can lead to lasting and devastating health impacts, impacts that will last their entire lives, from stunted lung growth to asthma to brain developments. It is horrific.” Unicef’s intervention follows a series of new studies which highlight the impact of the UK’s air pollution crisis on children’s health and will increase the pressure on government to intervene. The charity, which is now working with schools across the country, as well as clean air groups, is calling on the government to introduce a fully funded national action plan to protect children from the effects of toxic air. Harper said: “We want a national strategy specifically to protect children from harm, and a ring-fenced pot of funding to focus on the ways to reduce children’s exposure to toxic air. “We now know that exposure is most acute when they are travelling to and from school or nurseries and even inside the classrooms. Now there is no excuse not to take immediate and determined action.” He said measures should include vehicle exclusion zones around schools, a network of clean air zones, improved walking and cycling infrastructure in towns and cities and more child friendly urban areas. Last year a Guardian investigation revealed hundreds of thousands of children are being exposed to illegal levels of damaging air pollution from diesel vehicles at more than 2,000 schools and nurseries across England and Wales. Earlier this month it emerged that children were absorbing a disproportionate amount of air dangerous pollution on their way to and from school – and while in the classroom. One school was found to have several times over the World Health Organization pollution limit for the most damaging particulates inside several of its classrooms. There is a growing campaign among some parents and schools to ban the school run and encourage walking and cycling, but Unicef said central government needs to step in to orchestrate a nationwide policy that protects young people’s health. “It has taken a while to understand the true nature of the problem but now we do know and we have to act.” Harper said that unlike some other problems facing young people – including entrenched poverty and obesity – air pollution was relatively simple to address, if there was the political will. “The fact is that it is so needless, we can fix this – other things are more intractable – but this is something we can resolve.” The government has been widely criticised for its lack of action on air pollution. It has lost three court cases and is one of five nations that have been referred to Europe’s highest court for failing to tackle illegal levels of toxic air. Harper said: “All children have the right to breathe clean air, and toxic air not only violates children’s right to breathe clean air it also impacts on their future and that is unacceptable.” | ['environment/air-pollution', 'environment/pollution', 'environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'society/children', 'society/society', 'society/health', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/matthewtaylor', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/pollution | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2018-09-28T15:46:21Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2020/jul/07/country-diary-this-familiar-english-tree-has-life-in-it-yet | Country diary: this familiar English tree has life in it yet | My interest in elm trees was piqued this spring when someone happened to mention on social media that there were probably no more than 100 mature examples left in England. This instantly had the whiff of urban legend because just that week I had chanced upon a grove of 19 wych elms in a lesser known part of the Derbyshire Dales national nature reserve called Hay Dale. Admittedly those few trees are a remnant of a much larger stand, which has, in turn, been ravaged by Dutch elm disease. It is this fungal infection that has devastated European and American elms, especially after the late 1960s, since when an estimated 25m have been killed in Britain alone. As a consequence I’ve never witnessed an older landscape where elms were abundant, as depicted, for instance, in Constable’s painting The Cornfield. For me the word “elm” largely conjures Norfolk hedgerows, where suckering plants thrive for 10 to 20 years then succumb to the Scolytus beetles that spread the fatal fungus. Yet we should note that, despite this recurrent pattern among individual elm saplings, the species itself survives and even flourishes in these circumstances. So far across an area that extends at least from the Goyt to the Wye valleys I have found many hundreds of wych elms, Ulmus glabra, the species least susceptible to the infection. One of the pleasures of these encounters is to see how their trunks and branches are so knobbly and irregularly thickened with epicormic growth (shoots arising from dormant buds in bark). The gnarled bosses are whiskery with adventitious leafy twigs growing straight out of the boll, or furred with mosses and patterned by lichen. There is one glorious old elm in the Goyt whose entire armature of branches and trunks is smothered in leaf growth or ferns, so that the whole Ent-like beast is a photosynthesising surface. Equally wonderful are the papery lemony-green wings with their red-centred seeds that were strewn across the April paths like confetti for a spring wedding. Most satisfying, however, is the realisation that the obituary notices for this most characteristic of English trees have so far been greatly exaggerated. | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/environment', 'environment/forests', 'environment/plants', 'science/fungi', 'science/biology', 'environment/summer', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/markcocker', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/journal', 'theguardian/journal/letters', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-letters-and-leader-writers'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2020-07-07T04:30:03Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
sustainable-business/2015/feb/18/citi-100bn-investment-climate-change-banks-environment | Citigroup to invest $100bn in tackling climate change | Citigroup, the third largest US financial institution, on Wednesday said it will invest a whopping $100bn over the next decade to reduce the impacts of climate change. The bank said it will use the money the finance green initiatives and sustainable growth. The global financial corporation’s CEO Michael Corbat made the announcement at a breakfast gathering of stakeholders, employees and partner organizations in New York. The money will be used to finance large renewable-energy projects, for example, to aid greener affordable housing and to finance municipal infrastructure to reduce water waste and more, says Valerie Smith, director of corporate sustainability at Citigroup. It will also be used to help Citigroup reduce the environmental impacts of its global operations and supply chain, and to help its clients address environmental risks, according to Corbat’s prepared statement. This isn’t the first time Citigroup has committed money to tackling climate change. The company in 2007 set a similar goal of making $50bn in green investments by 2016, a goal which it met three years early. Now it is doubling down. Sustainability is good business In the last few years, several large banks have set similar investment goals. Bank of America and Wells Fargo both committed $50bn for financing sustainable initiatives and green transport in 2013, for example. It adds up to real money. But some industry insiders question whether all the new money for sustainable investments is enough to defray the environmental damage from banks’ investments in coal and other fossil fuels. Citibank also is still active in the coal market, although it has said coal is “in structural decline”. It’s no secret that banks are in business to make money. This slew of environmental commitments is interesting because it underlines that sustainability is in high demand. Citigroup’s Smith confirmed that the company’s announcement comes in the face of immense client demand for sustainable investing: “You probably can follow the chain. Our clients are demanding it, our clients’ clients are demanding it, our clients’ investors are demanding it. There is a momentum and focus on solving big global societal problems that everybody is rallying to.” In addition to investing decisions being driven by sustainability metrics, there is a business case for investing in instruments such as green bonds. “The business case is that we are at the inflection point of the greatest transition in human history from a fossil-fuel-based economy to a clean economy,” says Andrew Behar, the CEO of As You Sow, a nonprofit promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility. The World Economic Forum estimates this transition will require $1tn in investments each year for the next 20 years, Behar says. “Investors are looking at this and going, ‘I want to be a part of this,’” he said. “Look at a municipal bond, they’re going to want to change their streetlights to LEDs, why? Sustainable electricity. Why would they want to put solar on their roofs? [So] they can lock in 20-year rates. It’s the economics now. It’s not just about wanting to save the planet.” A strong signal to clients The business case, he agrees, provides the context for banks’ new strategies. “They’ve seen the demand and are stepping up and providing the products,” he said. According to Behar, the larger movement towards sustainable investment was prompted at least in part by the Valdez Principles, instituted by sustainable business nonprofit Ceres after the Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill in 1989. The 10-point code directs corporations, amongst other things, to better inform the public and establish audits and reports on their environmental impact. The availability of metrics coupled with the larger transition of energy systems makes this the time for financial institutions to keep pace. “We’ve been starting to see that the smarter investment people are getting ahead of the curve and making sure that there’s enough capital to make this transition,” Behar said. Citi’s new ambitious goals were based on the lessons learned from its previous targets, Smith said. “This strategy and the goals are related with the fact in mind that we saw activity increase much more than we expected with our previous $50bn finance goals.” The finance hub is funded by EY. All content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled “brought to you by”. Find out more here. | ['sustainable-business/series/finance', 'sustainable-business/sustainable-business', 'business/business', 'business/citigroup', 'business/ethicalbusiness', 'environment/corporatesocialresponsibility', 'business/banking', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/siri-srinivas'] | environment/corporatesocialresponsibility | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2015-02-18T23:47:22Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
commentisfree/2022/nov/14/cop27-global-south-world-leaders | Cop27 is full of politicians and policymakers – but the global south doesn’t work that way | Ndileka Mandela | When I say Africans are deeply disappointed with Cop27 so far, I don’t want to be misunderstood. There have been real signs of progress, including meaningful shifts towards climate justice by European leaders. But the hope that the global south would have its voice heard by the most powerful nations at this year’s Cop summit has – predictably enough – failed to materialise. For years now, global climate negotiations have been dominated by world leaders, policymakers and intergovernmental organisations, leaving little space for anyone else. There is not really any impetus to do otherwise. How can we talk about loss and damage, or fathom the scale of environmental destruction and climate reparations – which should be $2tn a year according to the UN – without including the voices of those who know the most? After all, civil society, faith leaders and moral voices play a pivotal role in society and politics across the global south. Yet this is not well understood by the powers that dominate Cop meetings. For the global south, this type of exclusion will prove detrimental. After all, a lack of infrastructure and social preparedness will result in waves of millions – possibly a billion – climate refugees. Western politics has never served the global south’s interests or followed through on promises of climate aid and finance. The gravity of the threat faced by these nations, coupled with ignorance about the global south’s reliance on civil society actors and moral authority figures to implement meaningful cultural change, will be the final nail in the coffin. It did not have to be this way. In the week before Cop27, the G20’s first religion forum took place in Bali, where the Muslim World League (MWL) and Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama organisation brought together moral leadership and civic representation to offer a blueprint to combat the climate crisis across the global south. At the forum, the MWL secretary-general, Dr Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, explained to global interfaith and secular leaders how cross-sector collaboration was vital in the face of increasing global challenges. We would have expected Cop27 – held in Egypt, a Muslim-majority nation like Indonesia – to feature similarly important work bridging local and global priorities. After all, faith is a unifier for billions across the global south, as well as being a credible solution for political global crises; just consider Desmond Tutu’s role in ending apartheid. But unlike the R20, where voices from the global south were front and centre, this has been far from the case in Egypt. And this imbalanced approach isn’t just harmful to Egypt or the rest of Africa, or the global south. It hurts the global north, too. If the world cannot agree on a new path that allows nations to both develop and reduce emissions, they will take the existing path, which would spell disaster. Decades ago, China was hardly seen as the heir apparent to American might. When Richard Nixon opened relations with China, he was mostly animated by the possibility of undermining Moscow; just how it might empower Beijing seemed irrelevant. In just a few decades, though, China has propelled itself into the ranks of historic superpowers, boasting what is now the world’s second largest economy. Its carbon footprint swelled accordingly: it is now the world’s biggest polluter. Of course, China’s citizens also enjoy living standards their recent ancestors could hardly have imagined. In a very short timespan, in economic terms China rocketed from global south to global north, travelling along the same trajectory as western nations, but in a much shorter period of time. This does not mean other large countries in the global south – such as Egypt, Nigeria and Ethiopia – will take the same path. But they could. And why wouldn’t they aspire to that? The harm that would be done to the world, including the developed world, if more global south nations took the fast track to highly polluting, highly advanced economies would be awful. Cop27 was supposed to be Africa’s chance to suggest a different path; one focused on responsibility, sustainability, prosperity. Instead, it seems, Cop27 has become a tragic instance of superficial diversity, where Africa is everywhere except in the conversation. To be clear, just because Egypt has come up short does not mean Cop27 is a failure. We still have four days to go. And moves by European nations towards climate justice will hopefully inspire other powerful nations – most critically the US and China – to do their part. But that’s not enough. The United Nations must insist that hosting a conference of such global significance should mean equality of access with verifiable metrics in place to ensure it. This is not about the global north dictating to the global south; after all, openness and accessibility are not exclusive to any one part of the world. Indeed, doing any less is a disservice to the global south; ultimately, we all face the same climate catastrophe. All of us should have a chance to speak to that bitter reality. Ndileka Mandela is a writer, social activist and the head of the Thembekile Mandela Foundation, which focuses on education, health, youth and women’s development in rural villages | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'environment/cop27', 'environment/environment', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'world/africa', 'world/world', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/ndileka-mandela', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/cop27 | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2022-11-14T14:30:04Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
film/2019/jul/10/story-woman-fled-california-wildfire-after-giving-birth-film-matthew-heineman | Story of woman who fled California wildfire after giving birth to be made into film | The deadly wildfires that hit California in 2018 are to become the subject of a new film, it has been announced. According to the Hollywood Reporter, A Private War’s Matthew Heineman will write and direct a film set against the backdrop of the Camp Fire, named for its point of origin on Camp Creek Road in Butte County, which killed 85 people and destroyed the small town of Paradise. Heineman’s film will focus on the real-life story of Heather Roebuck, who was forced to flee the town’s Feather River hospital minutes after giving birth. Roebuck chronicled her ordeal in a Facebook post, in which she explained she was unable to walk after her operation, was separated from her baby and that the ambulance she was initially placed in almost immediately caught fire. Heineman said in a statement: “Heather’s journey of inner strength in the face of unparalleled and unexpected adversity is one of the most exciting and visceral stories that I’ve ever encountered.” | ['film/film', 'world/wildfires', 'us-news/california', 'world/world', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/natural-disasters', 'culture/culture', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/andrewpulver', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-culture'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2019-07-10T10:15:26Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2015/mar/08/swiss-pilots-attempt-worlds-first-around-world-solar-flight | Swiss pilots to attempt first around-the-world solar flight | A Swiss pilot has begun the first ever attempt to fly around the world in a plane propelled only by the sun. André Borschberg and his compatriot Bertrand Piccard will take turns piloting the single seater Solar Impulse 2 for 21,747 miles (35,000km) over 12 legs, including gruelling five- to six-day stints across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The entire journey will take five months. Borschberg took the controls for the takeoff at Al-Bateen executive airport in Abu Dhabi early on Monday. Its first destination is Muscat in Oman. The pilots will endure roughly 250 hours each inside a narrow cockpit with no oxygen or temperature control. Temperatures outside will range between -40C to 40C. Falling asleep for long periods will be impossible as the flight will need constant attention. Piccard and Borschberg will survive on 20-minute naps every two to four hours. The pilots will practise yoga to stave off the physical discomfort of remaining confined to a seat for days at a time. But Borschberg said the biggest challenge was maintaining concentration. Piccard, who is a psychiatrist as well as being part of the team that in 1999 first circumnavigated the globe non-stop by balloon, has taught himself and Borschberg techniques of self-hypnosis and meditation in order to maintain concentration. “Time is not so important anymore,” said Borschberg. “You have plenty of time and the only way to cope with this duration is to be in the present moment. If you start thinking about how many hours left until you get to the destination you get crazy. So the only way is to be present ... In some ways it’s almost a spiritual experience that we are going through.” For the pilots, the entire journey will resemble circumnavigating the Earth in a family car. The aircraft weighs the same as a Volvo sedan and goes at comparable speeds. SI2’s top speed is 87m/h (140km/h) but the pilots will conserve battery power by limiting the plane to roughly half that. The cockpit is only slightly larger than an average car and must contain the life support systems, food, oxygen supplies and the reclining pilot’s seat that triples as bed, chair and toilet. The plane will fly both day and night, carrying no fuel, powered by 17,000 solar panels set on its wings (which are wider than a Boeing 747’s) and fuselage. A 633kg bank of lithium batteries, around a quarter of the entire weight, will store the energy to run the motors overnight. The stop-start journey harks back to the early days of intercontinental flight before enormous speeds and ranges were made achievable by jet engines. Qantas used to fly the Kangaroo Route from Sydney to London, hopping through Darwin, Singapore, Kolkata, Karachi, Cairo, and Tripoli en route. Borschberg said the success of the Solar Impulse project, which has already become the first solar-powered plane to fly through the night and the first to fly between two continents, must be seen as a primitive step toward a zero-carbon jumbo. Combustion of fossil fuels has dominated powered flight since the 19th century dirigible. Today, aviation burns the most carbon per passenger per kilometre of any mode of mass-transport and, despite efforts to limit emissions, remains the fastest growing anthropogenic source of greenhouse gases. The sector is identified by the UK’s committee on climate change as the toughest major emissions source to decarbonise. Solar flight seeks to change this but remains decades away at a minimum, says Borschberg. “We have to realise that we are between the Wright Brothers and Charles Lindbergh periods in the 20s of last century. So it will take, as it took in the past 25, 30, 35 years to fly clean. New technologies will have to be developed, this will take time.” The deputy editor of Aerospace magazine, Bill Read, said that solar flight was “not yet even remotely ready for any applications in commercial flights”. “Currently, an aircraft entirely covered in solar cells would not be able to generate enough power to enable it to fly. The Solar Impulse is only able to fly using solar power because it is specially constructed to be very light weight and with a huge wingspan. Unless there is a quantum leap forward in solar cell technology, solar cells cannot yet be considered as a sole power source for aircraft,” said Read. But Borschberg said some of the advances made for the project have real-world uses today. “To fly with the sun, day and night, we had to build an aircraft that is extremely energy efficient. These technologies that provide energy efficiency can be used in your home, in your car, in the appliances that you buy,” he said. The four motors that power the aircraft generate about half the power of a motorcross bike. But unlike conventional engines they lose only 3% of their energy through heat. The standard loss, says Borschberg, an engineer, is around 70%. According to the International Energy Agency, energy efficiency is the single cheapest way to reduce carbon emissions across the world. “With these technologies we can cope with a major part of the challenge we are facing today in terms of energy, environment, pollution, natural resources and so on,” says Borschberg. | ['environment/solarpower', 'environment/environment', 'environment/energy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'science/aeronautics', 'science/science', 'world/switzerland', 'world/world', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/karl-mathiesen', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2015-03-09T04:16:08Z | true | ENERGY |
sport/2018/apr/15/england-stun-australia-with-penalty-shot-on-the-siren-to-win-netball-gold | England stun Australia with penalty shot on the siren to win netball gold | Kadeen Corbin did a back flip, Helen Housby sobbed and Tracey Neville, the coach, declared it a dream come true after England won Commonwealth gold by defeating Australia, for so long the dominant force in world netball. There was one second on the clock when Housby scored to secure an astonishing victory against the world champions, whom England last defeated five years ago. Until now every Commonwealth Games final had been contested between Australia and New Zealand. The last time England reached a comparable final was 1975 so being in the gold‑medal match was a significant achievement. To win, when the expectation here was that the hosts would saunter to victory, could prompt a major shift in the world order. The match-winner was Housby, who missed a shot with four seconds on the clock only for the umpire to award a penalty, which the 23-year-old put away nervelessly to clinch an entirely unexpected 52-51 win. The buzzer sounded immediately and the 12-strong squad embraced in heady celebrations around the centre circle, bouncing around in unison and piling on top of each other. Kadeen Corbin, who came on briefly as a substitute, was doing back flips around the court. “There’s only one Tracey Neville,” they chanted in unison in recognition of a woman who first represented her country in 1993 and has coached England since 2015. In the depths of the Coomera Indoor Sports Centre, tears streamed down Housby’s face as she watched a replay of the last-second goal, a moment that will be recorded as among the greatest in English netball history. “To score the winning goal in the final against Australia in the last second, every single box has been ticked,” she said. “As shooters, it can be a lonely experience. You spend a lot of time doing your own training and shooting. You don’t really know how you’re going to react to those situations and that pressure because you don’t get it very often. “For netball in England, all the little girls at home I want them to be inspired by this. We certainly didn’t have this kind of success to look up when we were growing up and hopefully that will be the catalyst for big things to come.” In May 1999 Neville was playing abroad for her country. She sat in a hotel room and watched as a Manchester United team featuring her older brother Gary completed the treble by scoring two injury-time goals. Her players gave Gary a sense of the torture of being a spectating sibling in the big moments. “The best thing I’ve ever watched,” he wrote on Twitter. Tracey Neville said: “Everyone says: ‘What does it mean to the Neville family?’ We just live, eat and breathe sport. For my brothers, they want me to do well and be successful in sport, it’s our passion and we’re all successful in our own way. Gary’s wife sent me a video of him in front of the telly screaming: ‘C’mon, Helen, go on,’ as if he actually knows these players. “I remember the treble in Barcelona when they put that goal in. I was on tour at the time and I was screaming in a room at 4am. We support each other 100%. They are the ones who drive me.” The local newspapers were full of bluster about Australia blowing the England team off the court and the hosts were overwhelming favourites after dominating every previous match at the Games. But at half-time it was 25-25 and England twice led by three points in the third quarter. Australia opened up a 45-41 lead in the final quarter but England, and particularly the attacker Jo Harten, never looked like giving up. “We know how clinical this Australia team is and as you see the sea of gold, they are quite an authoritative team,” Neville said. “They dominate with their colour, but I said to my players, ‘when we cut each other open everyone has got red’ and that is what we saw on the court tonight. All they saw is red and the goal and they did it.” England’s victory is the latest in an impressive run of major titles for women’s teams from the home nations. Since the GB hockey women won gold at the Rio Olympics in 2016, England Women won the Cricket World Cup at Lord’s last July while the football team reached the semi-finals of Euro 2017. “We all support each other,” Neville said. “We went down to watch the women win at the Cricket World Cup and we will go to the Hockey world cup [in May]. “When we have international events we support each other and go watch and what we’re trying to do is generate as women in sport a multiple support system so we can crossover the sports and increase the revenue and spectator and participation levels. “Netball has been part of my life since I was five. If I can support its development in any way that’s what I want to do. If that gold medal gives them that getup and will to go then I’ve done my job.” | ['sport/commonwealth-games', 'sport/commonwealth-games-2018', 'sport/netball', 'sport/australia-sport', 'sport/australia-netball-team--diamonds-', 'sport/sport', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/martha-kelner', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/sport', 'theguardian/sport/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-sport'] | sport/commonwealth-games-2018 | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2018-04-15T05:14:04Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2009/feb/24/whaling-iceland | Gwladys Fouché: Bankrupt Iceland pins its hopes on whaling – but will it work? | "Whaling can help rebuild our economy" has been the theme of a high-profile ad campaign in the Icelandic media in recent weeks. Running across TV, radio and newspapers, it promises that the whaling industry can create up to 300 new jobs – a significant number in a country of 319,000 inhabitants struggling with rising unemployment, a worthless currency and a collapsed banking system. The campaign has also been heavy on nationalistic imagery, showing images of the Icelandic flag juxtaposed with historical pictures of whalers and whaling ships. The message resonates strongly in a nation that used to survive on fishing and farming. The campaign by pro-whaling advocates has followed Iceland's increased its official whaling quota on 26 January more than sixfold. In 2009, local whalers will be able to hunt 100 minke whales and 150 fin whales in 2009, up from 38 minke whales and no fin whales in 2008. The decision to increase the quota was taken by the outgoing government of PM Geir Haarde, in its final day in office. The new Icelandic fisheries minister, Steingrimur Sigfusson, has been trying to overturn it ever since, but has not been able to do so. "[My predecessor] took a hasty and vague decision, but it is valid and binding," he explains. "Our lawyers tell us we do not have sufficient legal basis to overturn it." So instead, Sigfusson is conducting a review of the country's whaling policy as a whole. "We will review the whole process, including the way the way the licenses are given or the way whalers are operating," says the minister. "We will also look into establishing safe havens, areas where whalers will not be allowed in." "This will be a warning for the whalers that they cannot expect the same treatment that they received in the past," he states. But those who expect the leader of a green party – Sigfusson is the leader of the Left-Greens – to ban all forms of whaling will be in for a surprise. "We're not principally against whaling, but against commercial whaling on a big scale," says Sigfusson. "We don't have a problem with small-scale, sustainable coastal whaling for our own consumption." Iceland resumed commercial whaling in 2006, despite an international moratorium put in place in 1986 to protect the species from extinction. "The quota increase can help us create between 200 and 300 jobs," says Fridrik Arngrimsson from the association of fishing vessels' owners. "It will also help protect our fisheries because whales eat fish that we could harvest." "Whales are not an endangered species. We have an abundance of whales in our waters, up to 400,000 of all types. They are a natural resource like any other and we have the right to use it," he says. Arngrimsson echoes the view of most people in Iceland. According to a poll published on 4 February, over 67% of Icelanders are either "very" or "rather supportive" of commercial whaling, with only 19.7% opposed to the practice. But can whaling really help Iceland out of its economic woes? Right now it's a tiny industry, employing "tens of people" according to the ministry of fisheries. And only three ships conduct minke whale hunting at the moment, with only two other ships fitted to conduct fin whale hunting. Anti-whaling campaigners point out as well that whaling, far from helping Iceland get out of its economic crisis, could make it more difficult. "It will harm its thriving whale-watching industry and potentially damage its fishing exports to countries that are opposed to whaling," says Martin Norman from Greenpeace. Around 115,000 tourists went whale-watching in Iceland in 2008, the vast majority of them foreigners. The sector directly employs an estimated 180-210 people. "Whale watching is the largest single tourism activity in the country," says Heimir Hardarson, marketing manager of North Sailing, a whale-watching operator in Husavik, northern Iceland. "Since Iceland resumed whaling there have been fewer minke whales in the waters outside Husavik, says Hardarson. "It is difficult to know whether it's because of the whaling or [if] it's because of other reasons," he explains. "But before whaling resumed, we would see minke whales about 95% of every time we would go out on tours. Now it's below 50%. On the other hand, we see more humpback and blue whales." Whale-watching operators also contest the numbers of whales the pro-whalers say are in the ocean. "They claim they are more than 10,000 minke whales around Iceland, but in one season we will have up to 300 sightings," says Rannveig Gretarsdottir, manager of Elding, a whale-watching operator in Reykjavik. "There can't be as many as they say there are." Another problem is that whalers operate in the same area as tourist ships. "If they hunt the whales that are easily approachable, which are the ones they look for, it will be more difficult for us to show whales to visitors," she says. Gretarsdottir is worried that the increased quota will lead to less visitors coming to Iceland. "We're concerned that tourists, especially those from the UK and Germany where whaling is a big issue, will stop coming here." | ['environment/whaling', 'world/iceland', 'environment/fishing', 'business/credit-crunch', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'tone/analysis', 'world/europe-news', 'environment/whales', 'environment/cetaceans', 'type/article', 'environment/hunting', 'profile/gwladysfouche'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2009-02-24T15:07:01Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
lifeandstyle/2022/aug/27/the-people-making-a-difference-the-teacher-running-a-free-school-uniform-exchange-on-her-doorstep | The people making a difference: the teacher running a free school uniform exchange on her doorstep | Jo Land was horrified when she realised how much her youngest son’s school uniform was going to cost. “A jumper was £25. A polo shirt was £15,” she says. “This isn’t a fancy school; this is the comprehensive down the road.” She started thinking about how others managed: “If it was this expensive for us, how on Earth must families with three or four children cope? And that’s not taking into account the cost of living. Food, fuel and energy prices are going up for everyone.” Land, a 53-year-old teacher turned private tutor from Hereford, is not on the breadline. “My husband is a teacher as well,” she says. “We are professionals. If it’s hard for us, it must be harder for other families.” In December 2021, Land bought a plastic dustbin and put it outside her house, with a sign reading, “School uniform drop-off”. She set up a Facebook group, Herefordshire Free School Uniform, and asked people to drop good-quality used uniforms into the bin. A pair of grey trousers appeared a few days later. “It’s always boys’ grey trousers,” she laughs. The operation started to grow almost immediately. “Some weeks I give out up to 48 pieces of uniform,” she says. People drive up and drop the clothing in her bin: she sorts through it, keeps it in her “stock room” (spare bedroom) and posts details about donations on the Facebook group. The first parent to message Land gets the items – for nothing. She puts the items in a named bag and then returns it to the bin on her drive. Recipients can come and collect at their leisure. “People drive up,” Land says, “get their uniform, and drive on. They don’t need to interact with me.” She drops clothes at the homes of people without cars. Land has become an unlikely school uniform expert, able to size up most items by eye, although many things still have their labels. Certain items go fast, she says: “If I have a red gingham dress, I can guarantee that in a minute someone will be messaging me. It’s that quick.” “Being able to access good-quality preloved school uniforms has been a lifeline,” says Kristina Bakewell, a teaching assistant and mother of two. Her 11-year-old daughter is about to start secondary school. Without Land’s service, she’d have been looking at a £400 bill. “That is not money I have,” she says. “It’s amazing, what Jo is doing.” Though uniforms take up most of her time, Land has also helped children living in social care and women’s refuges, as well as Ukrainian refugees. She estimates that she spends at least an hour a day processing requests and bagging up orders: sometimes, she will respond to 30 Facebook messages in one day. “Parents say, ‘is it really free?’ I say, ‘absolutely’.” She doesn’t ask people to prove they’re in financial hardship. “If something is in stock,” she says, “they can have it. Because I think everyone is struggling.” Parents send Facebook messages to express their thanks. “They say, ‘it’s a wonderful thing you’re doing’, and talk about how hard things are at the moment.” Land is horrified by the surging cost of living, and the knock-on effect this has on children. “Every child going to school deserves to feel smart and proud,” she says. “We don’t want children to go to school feeling negative, because that affects their learning.” There is also a beneficial impact on the environment – the project stops good-quality uniforms ending up as landfill. Land has noticed that people rarely take without also giving: “Sometimes people leave flowers on the bin, or they drop off some outgrown clothes as well, even if it’s just a polo shirt or a few jumpers.” She says she has never received soiled uniform: “Everything is always really clean.” When asked about her treat, Land tentatively suggests an afternoon tea with her husband Matthew to mark his 50th birthday. The Savoy Hotel in London offers to host the couple for as many cups of tea, cakes and crustless sandwiches as they can manage on a Sunday afternoon, and when we speak after her visit, she’s still on a sugar high: “The service was incredible – they were there before you could even ask.” Arriving back in Hereford after her five-star feast of strawberry buns and chocolate cake, Land started thinking about all the people in her community who will struggle this winter. “I came back home,” she says, “and found I had so many messages from people who are absolutely desperate, because they cannot afford uniforms for their children. They don’t know what they’re going to do. They absolutely cannot afford it.” Her determination to ensure children can access the uniforms they deserve grows ever stronger. Want to nominate someone for Guardian angel? Email us – with their permission – and suggest a treat at guardian.angel@theguardian.com | ['lifeandstyle/series/guardian-angel', 'lifeandstyle/family', 'business/inflation', 'business/cost-of-living-crisis', 'education/schools', 'education/education', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/recycling', 'campaign/email/inside-saturday', 'campaign/email/pushing-buttons', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/sirin-kale', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/saturday', 'theguardian/saturday/lifestyle', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/saturday-magazine'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2022-08-27T11:00:26Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
commentisfree/2023/may/11/republican-protest-britain-police-public-order-act | Is there a future for protest in Britain? Standing in the muted republican crowd, my fears only grew | Andy Beckett | Last Saturday morning, it felt strange setting out to take part in the republican protest in London while knowing that its organiser had already been arrested. A queasy mixture of mild shock, anxiety and defiance sat in my stomach all the way to Trafalgar Square. Demonstrators in longstanding authoritarian countries must be used to such sensations, but as someone who since the 80s has done most of their protesting in Britain, this sense that peaceful street politics was no longer necessarily tolerated by the authorities was new and unsettling. When I got to the square, it was reassuring to see that there was still a demonstration, but less so to realise that it was smaller than expected – a few hundred people – and that much of it was squashed into a narrow space between the National Gallery and a huge temporary wall, running almost right across the square, which appeared to have been built that morning specifically to make the protest as invisible as possible. Police ringed the demonstrators, while a constant stream of coronation-goers squeezed past. The usual atmosphere of the square on protest days, as one of Britain’s freest public spaces, was almost completely absent. Instead, the possibility of a crowd crush, more arrests or a confrontation never seemed far away. The protest also had an unusually muted, tentative quality. Not many people were holding placards. There were chants, but they quickly died away. Many of the demonstrators stood silently. Perhaps just being there was enough for them – or maybe they were scared of seeming “disruptive”. Either way, the protest lacked much of a sense of release: the usual emotional reward for expressing your politics in the street. After an hour or two, some of the demonstrators quietly slipped away. Is this the future of protest in Britain? The arrests of dozens of republican demonstrators last Saturday have rightly received a lot of attention. But the more subtle and wider consequences of the government’s anti-protest legislation, and of the growing repressiveness of the Home Office and the police, on Britain’s often underestimated culture of public dissent are being discussed much less. Intimidating official letters, ominous briefings to the media, showy police mobilisations and the cordoning-off of more and more public space are all being used to make protest a perilous – or at least perilous-feeling – fringe activity, rather than an accepted, everyday part of political life. Already, some people are probably being put off from taking part: none of the republicans I know were at Saturday’s demo. A cause supported by between a fifth and a third of the population, according to this year’s polls on republicanism – about the same number as support the Conservatives – ends up as a thin, nervous crowd that most journalists and viewers never see. The previous status of protest in our politics should not be romanticised. For some Britons, such as striking trade unionists and people from ethnic minorities, the policing of demonstrations has long been threatening and sometimes brutal. But for many people, marches and demonstrations used to have a festive, slightly anarchic aspect – a sense that ordinary restrictions on public behaviour had been temporarily suspended. During the famous London march against the poll tax in 1990, despite the intention of many participants very obviously being to destabilise the Thatcher government, I saw police looking on indulgently as students slapped anti-Maggie stickers all over phone boxes and bus stops. It’s harder to imagine such behaviour being tolerated now, when wearing a Just Stop Oil T-shirt can be enough to get you arrested. One early warning about the diminishing tolerance for protest was the widespread introduction in the late 90s of “kettling”, the cordoning-off, and effective detention, of large groups of demonstrators by police. The possibility of being held like this for several hours, often into a cold evening, without having committed any offence, made going on demonstrations more of a risk. But if you were kettled, at least you were still visibly participating in protest. Nowadays, dissident Britons may spend the day of their long-planned demo herded behind a hoarding, or in a police station. Many Conservative politicians and journalists, despite their sensitivity about threats to free speech in other contexts, claim that the new police powers do not diminish the right to protest. I wonder if they will still say that if there is a Labour government. Keir Starmer says he would refine rather than repeal the Public Order Act. The last time Labour returned to power, Tory Britain rallied its defeated forces with a series of huge “countryside marches” in London, called partly to oppose Tony Blair’s plan to ban hunting. It’s not inconceivable that Conservatives who want to demonstrate against the policies of a Prime Minister Starmer – against, say, the building of lots of wind turbines in the Tory shires – will find their ability to do so unexpectedly curtailed. But the clampdown is much more than a party matter. Britons who want to protest about less obviously political issues, such as where the country’s desperately needed new housing gets built, may also be affected. In Britain, anti-protest legislation officially described as a precaution against extremists usually ends up being applied more widely. The coronation was probably always going to be an over-policed event, with so much invested in it by so many establishment institutions. Yet the damage done to our supposedly diverse and irreverent political culture by the dawn arrests and the othering of those who did protest will linger. Even if the police and many politicians decide that, this time, officers went too far; and even if some of the anti-protest legislation is eventually repealed – perhaps because interpreting and enforcing it takes up too much police time – it could be years before going on a demo feels relatively risk-free again. That may act as a deterrent, or as a provocation. Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist | ['commentisfree/commentisfree', 'world/protest', 'uk/uk', 'uk/republicanism', 'uk-news/king-charles-coronation', 'environment/just-stop-oil', 'politics/margaretthatcher', 'uk/police', 'politics/politics', 'politics/home-office', 'world/freedom-of-speech', 'type/article', 'tone/comment', 'profile/andybeckett', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-opinion'] | environment/just-stop-oil | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2023-05-11T14:52:30Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
technology/2024/mar/26/foreign-office-summons-senior-chinese-diplomat-over-malicious-cyber-activity | Foreign Office summons senior Chinese diplomat over ‘malicious cyber activity’ | Ministers summoned a senior Chinese diplomat to the Foreign Office on Tuesday after accusing Beijing-backed hackers of a cyber-attack on the British elections watchdog and a surveillance operation on politicians. The department called in China’s chargé d’affaires and told him the UK would not tolerate “threatening” cyber-attacks. An FCDO spokesperson said the ministry had “set out the government’s unequivocal condemnation of Chinese state-affiliated organisations and individuals undertaking malicious cyber activity against UK democratic institutions and parliamentarians”. “The UK government would not tolerate such threatening activity, and would continue to take strong action with partners across the globe to respond,” they said. The summons came after the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, announced sanctions on Monday on a company and two individuals accused of involvement in China’s malicious cyber activity. But ministers faced criticism from Tory MPs including Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister, and Alicia Kearns, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, who called the government’s actions “feeble” and “insufficient”. Rishi Sunak defended his approach to China, insisting the UK was “undoubtedly more robust than most of our allies”. MPs on the liaison committee challenged him on the government’s reluctance to act on Chinese-owned companies such as ByteDance, which owns TikTok. The prime minister told MPs the UK had introduced stronger export controls for sensitive technologies and a tougher foreign investment scheme than other countries. “On trade, we are already less dependent on China for trade than Australia, Korea, Japan, the US, Germany and many other countries,” he said. “I am entirely confident that our approach to dealing with the risk that China poses is very much in line with our allies and in most cases goes further in protecting ourselves.” Sunak also cited the government’s decision to remove Huawei equipment from the UK’s telecommunications networks, which Boris Johnson took in 2020 after a major rebellion by Tory backbenchers. Dowden indicated on Tuesday that the government was preparing to put China in the enhanced tier of the government’s new foreign influence registration scheme. This would require organisations or individuals to register with the government if they carry out advocacy or campaigning activities on Beijing’s behalf. The prime minister’s spokesperson said the scheme was “in the process of being finalised and no countries have been specified yet”. Dowden told MPs on Monday that ministers were “in the process of collective government agreement” on the matter and that “the conduct that I have described today will have a very strong bearing on the decision that we make in respect of it”. Ministers are also under pressure to formally designate China a threat to UK security in the government’s integrated review, which sets out the country’s foreign, defence and security policies. It currently refers to China as an “epoch-defining challenge”. The education secretary, Gillian Keegan, told Times Radio that China was “obviously a security threat”. There are differing views in government about how robust an approach to take against China, which is one of the UK’s biggest trading partners. The sanctions announced on Monday were part of a joint action by the UK and its allies to reveal the scale of Chinese cyber-espionage activities, with the US charging seven alleged Chinese hackers. | ['technology/cyberwar', 'world/espionage', 'technology/hacking', 'technology/internet', 'technology/technology', 'world/world', 'uk/uk', 'world/china', 'campaign/email/morning-briefing', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/eleni-courea', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/hacking | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2024-03-26T18:06:33Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
australia-news/article/2024/jun/23/peter-duttons-nuclear-plan-could-cost-as-much-as-600bn-and-supply-just-37-of-australias-energy-by-2050-experts-say | Peter Dutton’s nuclear plan could cost as much as $600bn and supply just 3.7% of Australia’s energy by 2050, analysis suggests | The Coalition’s pledge to build seven nuclear reactors as part of its controversial energy plan could cost taxpayers as much as $600bn while supplying just 3.7% of Australia’s energy mix by 2050, according to the Smart Energy Council. The analysis found the plan would cost a minimum of $116bn – the same cost as delivering the Albanese government’s plan for 82% renewables by 2030, and an almost 100% renewable energy mix by 2050. The Coalition has drawn widespread criticism for not releasing the costings of the nuclear power proposal it unveiled on Wednesday as part of its plan for Australia’s energy future if elected. On Friday, the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said the costings would come “very soon”, but did not confirm whether it would be days, weeks or months. The Smart Energy Council, an industry body for renewable energy in Australia, came to the $116bn figure using data from the CSIRO and the Australian Energy Market Operator’s latest GenCost report. It factored in the Coalition’s proposed timeframe and the capital costs of replacing the 11 gigawatts of coal capacity produced on the seven sites with nuclear reactors. But factoring in the experience of cost and timeframe blowouts in the UK, the refurbishment of coal-fired power stations, and Dutton’s plan to compensate the states, the Smart Energy Council found the cost could reach as much as $600bn. The council found the large nuclear reactors – of which there will be five alongside two smaller reactors – would probably cost $60bn each and were unlikely to be built by 2040. Dutton has said that they plan for the reactors to be built and operational by the second half of the 2030s. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup “At best, Peter Dutton’s nuclear proposal would deliver 3.7% of the energy required at the same cost as the government’s comprehensive strategy,” John Grimes, the chief executive of the Smart Energy Council, said. “In reality, current cost overruns happening right now in the UK could mean a $600bn bill to Australian taxpayers, whilst delivering a small proportion of the energy that is actually required. “The most optimistic assessment of Peter Dutton’s nuclear proposal indicates it is a pale shadow of the reliable renewables plan outlined and costed by the Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo).” The Smart Energy Council called on the opposition to immediately release its costings and the generation capacity of the proposed seven nuclear reactors. “They need to explain how their forecasts contradict the experts at the CSIRO and Aemo. It is extraordinary that the details are being hidden from the Australian public,” said Grimes. The CSIRO and Aemo have assessed the cost of different electricity sources and found nuclear generation would be the most expensive technology available for consumers. It found that solar and wind backed by storage energy, new transmission lines and other “firming” – in other words, what the country is building now – were the cheapest option. The Coalition’s promise has met widespread scepticism from Australia’s energy sector and industry groups, which have warned about the risks of cost blowouts and destroying private sector investment. During an address to party officials in Sydney on Saturday, Dutton said his nuclear energy plan would cost a fraction of Labor’s renewable energy rollout, and would assist in achieving the party’s goal for “cheaper, cleaner and consistent power”. • This article was amended on 25 June 2024 to clarify in the text that the Smart Energy Council is an industry body for renewable energy in Australia. The article headline has been amended accordingly. | ['australia-news/energy-australia', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/energy', 'environment/environment', 'campaign/email/afternoon-update', 'australia-news/peter-dutton', 'australia-news/coalition', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jordyn-beazley', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/energy | ENERGY | 2024-06-25T07:38:20Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2019/nov/29/how-perus-potato-museum-could-stave-off-world-food-crisis | How Peru’s potato museum could stave off world food crisis | With a climate changing faster than most crops can adapt and food security under threat around the world, scientists have found hope in a living museum dedicated to a staple eaten by millions daily: the humble potato. High in the Peruvian Andes, agronomists are looking to the ancestral knowledge of farmers to identify genetic strains which could help the tubers survive increasingly frequent and intense droughts, floods and frosts. The Potato Park in Cusco is a 90 sq km (35 sq mile) expanse ranging from 3,400 to 4,900 metres (16,000 feet) above sea level. It has “maintained one of the highest diversities of native potatoes in the world, in a constant process of evolution,” says Alejandro Argumedo, the founder of Asociación Andes, an NGO which supports the park. “By sowing potatoes at different altitudes and in different combinations, these potatoes create new genetic expressions which will be very important to respond to the challenges of climate change.” Under a cobalt sky by an icy mountain lagoon, a father and his son-in-law hoe thick brown soil. They pull out reddish potatoes and throw them into waiting sacks. The pucasawsiray potatoes they gather are among the 1,367 varieties in the park, which lies in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The intensely cultivated patchwork of tiny fields and graded terraces is a living laboratory of potato diversity. The potato was domesticated 7,000 years ago by the ancestors of these Peruvian peasant farmers on the shores of Lake Titicaca, between modern-day Peru and Bolivia, say archaeologists. The Potato Park is considered a secondary centre of origin for the potato, which today is grown on every continent on Earth except Antarctica. Scientists at the US space agency Nasa and the Peru-based International Potato Centre have even been testing whether potatoes can be grown on Mars. The Quechua-speaking descendants of the Incas have myriad descriptive names for the cornucopia of potatoes grown and eaten in Peru’s southern Andes, from a squat, greyish tuber named after an alpaca’s nose to a yellow indented tatty called puma maqui, or puma’s paw. There is even a maddeningly knobbly potato known as pusi qhachun wachachi, whose name literally means “make your daughter-in-law cry”, as it has frustrated so many prospective wives who have tried to pass the test of trying to peel it. They come in every colour and texture; reds, yellows, blues and purples, sometimes shocking pink ringed with white when cut in half. Some have a powdery texture, others are waxy and some moray or chuño are are too bitter to eat until they are soaked, freeze-dried on rooftops and trampled on to remove their skins. These can be stored for months and used in winter soups. But now these potatoes are bearing the brunt of global heating, which is drawing pests further uphill, forcing farmers to sow the crop in the upper reaches of the park on the limit of arable land. The park residents are conducting tests to see how resistant the native varieties are to frost, hail and intense sunlight and also to the Andean potato weevil, whose larvae eat through the tubers underground. “These crops have always adapted,” says Marie Haga, the executive director of the Crop Trust. “Now climate change is so fast that these poor plants are not able to adapt. “That’s why we need the diversity, because the diversity is what we use when we breed new plants which can tolerate new climates,” she adds. The possible solution may be in what locals call the wild “grandfather” of the domesticated potato, which still grows in the highlands and is grazed on by alpacas and donkeys. The plant’s green fruit looks more like a very small tomato than a potato but, as villager Nazario Quispe explains, its seed is spread in animal dung and it often grows in their corrals. Quispe says they continue to mix the crops with the wild relatives to make them more resistant. “In laboratories, scientists are trying to solve this through gene transfer and genetic engineering, but the peasants here have been doing this kind of work for thousands of years,” says Argumedo. The results are stored in an on-site seed bank where each potato is kept in carefully coded paper bags, cooled by trenches filled with icy water and lit by rooftop windows to prevent them from taking seed. In 2017, 650 examples were taken to the global seed vault on the Norwegian island of Svalbard inside the Arctic circle, where they are stored at -18C. At the same time in Peru’s capital, Lima, the International Potato Centre, known by its Spanish acronym CIP, houses more than 4,600 types of potato and has the world’s largest in vitro gene bank. The CIP is working in Africa and Asia where the potato is helping to combat hunger and generate income as a cash crop. It produces fast-maturing, biofortified potatoes which have improved productivity – particularly in China, which is the world’s biggest grower, accounting for 22% of global potato production. “China suffers from a severe shortage of land and water and the potato is particularly resilient to droughts,” says Mei Xurong, the vice-president of the country’s Academy of Agricultural Sciences. “The question for China is how to enrich the biodiversity when you produce potatoes,” he says. “This is a major challenge.” The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 75% of crop diversity was lost between 1900 and 2000 and that as much as 22% of the wild relatives of food crops will disappear by 2055 because of the changing climate. As soil degradation intensifies and crop resilience becomes ever more important, the work being done by the potato guardians in a small park in Peru may play an important role in feeding the rest of the world. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/series/the-age-of-extinction', 'environment/environment', 'food/potatoes', 'world/peru', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'tone/news', 'profile/dan-collyns', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-age-of-extinction'] | environment/series/the-age-of-extinction | BIODIVERSITY | 2019-11-29T07:00:01Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
education/2010/jan/12/colleges-back-nuclear-revival | Colleges back nuclear revival | The debate about nuclear power arouses passion on both sides. But a government commitment to build new reactors has been welcomed by further education colleges offering nuclear industry-related qualifications, especially those in, or near to, economically depressed areas. But not everyone is happy. One anti-nuclear-power group is questioning a decision by the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) to grant £2m towards the cost of a specialist nuclear education facility at Bridgwater College, Somerset. The South West Energy Skills Centre will specialise in nuclear training. "The government said there wouldn't be any subsidies for the nuclear industry and we regard this is as a hidden one," says Stop Hinkley's co-ordinator, Jim Duffy. But those in favour of a new plant at Hinkley claim it will have a resounding impact on Somerset's economy. It's estimated that 4,000 jobs will be created during the construction phase and hundreds more in the power station's lifetime. Energy firm EDF says it wants local firms and workers fully involved. The facility will double the number of training places it can offer in trades such as engineering and construction that can be directly employed by the nuclear industry. The area has seen a steady loss of manufacturing jobs over the years. Wage levels are low, a high proportion of the workforce is low skilled, and educational attainment is below average. "It [the training centre] provides a solid base on which to build routes to higher-level employment and university-level training," says Suzanne Bond, the SWRDA's executive director of people and skills. Bridgwater College principal Fiona McMillan expects that the commitment to new-build will stimulate interest among 16- to 18-years-olds. "The industry was seen to be declining," she says. "Now there's potential for long-term careers." The college has been working with EDF to inform young people about nuclear energy, and the British Nuclear Energy Society, a lobbying and educational body, has visited to talk about potential careers. Recently, the college started offering the 14-16 diploma in engineering. "We also have 72 16- to 18-year-old engineering students on full-time two-year programmes, many of whom will see the nuclear industry as a great career route, and be able to study at HE level locally," says McMillan. Until recently, the nuclear story was one of power stations nearing the end of their life and, with that, a demand for specialist courses on decommissioning – cleaning up sites and making the waste secure. This requires an understanding of nuclear physics, engineering, reactor design and much else. Since nuclear decommissioning programmes began in 2007, Bridgwater College has trained more than 100 employees from Magnox South, the company that clears up sites for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and from the industry's supply chain, by offering NVQs related to decommissioning and radiation protection. It has also begun offering a foundation degree in decommissioning in conjunction with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). But a shift in government policy has earmarked 10 sites deemed suitable for future nuclear plants. They are Bradwell, in Essex; Braystones, Kirksanton and Sellafield, in Cumbria; Hartlepool; Heysham, Lancashire; Hinkley Point, Somerset; Oldbury, Gloucestershire; Sizewell, Suffolk; and Wylfa, in North Wales. Braystones and Kirksanton are the only new locations. Now colleges are preparing to train people starting out in a wide range of careers building up and running the industry. Blackpool and the Fylde College, in Lancashire, offers a foundation degree in nuclear engineering (plant and process). The college sees it as addressing a skills deficit. It is designed to attract students from FE programmes – "an important market"– such as those doing national and higher national-level certificates in mechanical and electrical and electronic engineering. Simon Hughes, Blackpool and Fylde's head of engineering and computing, describes the government's backing of nuclear new-build as "music to our ears" in terms of supporting the local economy. "It's very important to us – the north-west is definitely depressed," he says. "We're very excited – we have a large engineering department and can upscale easily. "While the priority is to meet immediate demand within the industry, the degree course is written in a way so anyone with the right skills set can access it. We're getting inquiries from people we wouldn't ordinarily expect, and from companies we don't normally deal with." If plants are built on all the possible sites – the government anticipates the first reactors being operational by 2020 – Cumbria would be home to three of them. This is potentially a boost to Workington-based Lakes College. Three years ago, it became the first FE college to offer UCLan's foundation degree in decommissioning. "If only one is built, it would create 10,000 construction jobs and a further 1,200 in operating it," says principal Cath Richardson. "Then you'll have more indirect jobs. This is fundamental to the regeneration of local communities, and it gives us a lift." An expansion of nuclear energy is unlikely to see significant opposition in the further education sector, it seems. | ['education/further-education', 'education/education', 'education/colleges', 'education/engineeringgeneral', 'environment/nuclearpower', 'careers/environment-careers', 'type/article', 'profile/andrew-mourant', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/educationguardian', 'theguardian/educationguardian/educationguardian2'] | environment/nuclearpower | ENERGY | 2010-01-12T00:05:26Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/2011/sep/21/times-atlas-error-scientists-mobilise | Times Atlas ice error was a lesson in how scientists should mobilise | Over the past few days, climate scientists and polar researchers from across the world have rallied, mobilised and responded to a massively incorrect press statement by HarperCollins, the publisher of the Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World. According to HarperCollins, the atlas is "turning Greenland 'green' because the new edition has had to erase 15% of Greenland's once permanent ice cover". The press release issued last Thursday quickly spread across the global news, leaving many scientists flabbergasted. How on earth could the Times Atlas obtain such high number? The Greenland Ice Sheet contains 2.9m cubic kilometres of ice – enough to raise the sea level by 7 metres if it were to melt. A 15% reduction in size would be about a 1-metre rise – enough to cause flooding over a third of the Netherlands. Since flooding of this magnitude has not taken place in recent years, scepticism was immediate in the glaciological community. Something must have gone seriously wrong when the new map of Greenland was compared against the previous version from 1999. What happened next is something new. Scientists from around the world quickly expressed their frustration with the questionable claim. Jeffrey Kargel from the University of Arizona wrote on the cryolist, an email distribution list used by many students, researchers and academics, that "a number like 15% ice loss … is simply a killer mistake. This is not a scientific error, but it could be perceived as one." Graham Cogley, a professor of geography at Trent University in Ontario, Canada, replied "the claims here are simply not backed up by science", and concluded "this pig can't fly". At the Scott Polar Research Institute, seven scientists including myself issued a press statement on the University of Cambridge website explaining "a 15% decrease in permanent ice cover since the publication of the previous atlas 12 years ago is both incorrect and misleading. A sizable portion of the area mapped as ice-free in the atlas is clearly still ice-covered." Journalists at the Guardian and many other news outlets immediately picked up these concerns. Meanwhile, scientists from across the world continued the exchange of emails via the cryolist. Ted Scambos, a senior scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Centre, said: "I'm worried that the importance of the changes that are going on will be lost on the public, because the true value of what the ice sheet has lost compared to this 15% number sounds very small." And he is right, because the true loss of permanent ice in Greenland from 1999-2011 is about 0.1%. This sounds miniscule. Why worry? The answer is that it is a small fraction of a very large number. The current annual loss of ice from Greenland is about 200 cubic kilometres per year. This is about 0.007% of the total ice volume, but the same as 6mm/decade in terms of sea level rise. This is a substantial number which excludes losses from other ice sheets and ice caps, and mountain glaciers, which tend to melt faster. So we should worry about climate change and its impact, not only on the Greenland Ice Sheet, but ice masses across the world as a whole. A recent study published in Nature shows a rapid decline of glaciers and ice caps in the Canadian Arctic. In Antarctica, a number of ice shelves have collapsed, exposing glaciers to the marine environment and causing them to flow much faster than their original pace. Many readers will probably already be familiar with the continuing decline of European glaciers. Yet in recent years, Greenland has been on the top of the list when it comes to large and sudden glacier change. The past ten years have seen record melt year after year. The margin of the ice sheet is clearly thinning. Numerous glaciers have retreated abruptly, exposing new lands and causing faster transfer of ice from ice sheet interior to the ocean. For glaciologists working in Greenland, climate change is very real. Atlases such as the Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World can and probably will play an important role in the communication of climate change, but it is absolutely essential that the communication is based on facts and scientific evidence. The substantial consequences of making inaccurate or exaggerated claims in the climate change debate came to light after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change incorrectly stated in their last assessment report, that Himalayan glaciers could vanish before 2035. Although this mistake was not made within the actual assessment of the physical science basis of climate change, the unravelling of this mistake nonetheless lasted more than a year and was damaging not just to the IPCC, but the wider scientific community. In the aftermath of what is often referred to as 'Himalayagate', scientists are well aware that one big error can cloud a thousand truths. This is why the science community tackled the Times Atlas mistake swiftly and effectively. Yesterday, HarperCollins issued a press statement retracting the claimed magnitude of ice loss, but maintained that they stand by their maps. But to scientists, the representation of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the latest atlas, without explanatory text, will continue to be misleading. • Dr Poul Christoffersen is a lecturer at the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge | ['environment/poles', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'science/scienceofclimatechange', 'science/controversiesinscience', 'science/geography', 'science/science', 'tone/comment', 'environment/sea-ice', 'type/article'] | environment/sea-ice | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2011-09-21T14:51:06Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
uk-news/2024/oct/04/conker-players-forced-to-freeze-seeds-after-uk-storms-bring-early-fall | Conker players forced to freeze seeds after UK storms bring early fall | Contestants gearing up for this year’s conker tournaments have been forced to freeze the seeds they use to compete, after stormy weather caused them to drop earlier than normal. Every autumn hundreds of people compete at conkers, a traditional British children’s game in which participants use a conker threaded on to string to strike their opponent’s conker until one breaks. James Packer, the chair of the World Conker Championships, said they had frozen conkers before in case supplies ran out but had never had to use them until now. “It’s always been a bit of a backup plan but we’ve never had to do it. We try to get them as fresh as we can, really,” he said. “But the last few years there seems to be a problem where we get a storm before the competition that brings all the conkers down off the trees, and then various wildlife disappear with them before we can get our hands on them.” He said they tried to gather 3,000-3,500 conkers for the event, which takes place in Northamptonshire on the second Sunday in October every year, to make sure there were enough suitable ones for people to compete with. They typically get about 250 people fighting to be crowned King and Queen Conker, battling it out in knockout rounds throughout the day, with a fresh conker for each match. “Frozen conkers do tend to play quite well. But we have to make sure they’re thawed out beforehand. We certainly wouldn’t play with any that are still frozen,” Packer said. The Waveney Valley conkers tournament, taking place in Norfolk on Sunday, has a more lax approach to the conkers being used to compete. “I keep some in the fridge, I keep some in a freezer, I pickle some in alcohol,” said Yanny Mac, a referee and organiser of the event. “Those high winds we had six weeks ago meant the conkers fell off the trees a little bit earlier,” he said. “But the trees drop whenever they want to and Mother Nature, she’s a fickle beast. If she drops her conkers early, it shouldn’t mean you can’t play.” He said that over the years conker crops had fluctuated as a result of changing weather patterns, and players had to adapt to different types of conker. “When it comes to conkers, it doesn’t matter how big it is, how small it is, how mushy it is, how shiny it is, it all adds to the fun and the spectacle,” Mac said. He said the more serious concern was around the rise of bleeding canker, a bacterial infection that affects horse chestnut trees and has been on the increase in the 21st century. “It would be a shame if we lost conkers, they are very much the signifier of autumn,” he said. As well as preserving the conkers themselves, organisers said they hoped the tournaments would help to preserve the game for generations to come. Packer said: “We do find the age we’re having to teach people how to play conkers because they’ve never done it before is getting older every year. But we’re looking at a bumper competition and we’re incredibly busy; we’ll have to cap the entries soon. There’s still lots of interest.” | ['uk-news/northamptonshire', 'environment/autumn', 'uk/uk', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'environment/forests', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/jessica-murray', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2024-10-04T12:29:02Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
technology/2014/oct/22/jimmy-iovine-beats-headphones-trainer-brand | Jimmy Iovine: Beats could have been a trainer brand | Beats was nearly a brand worn on the feet rather than the head. According to the company co-founder and now Apple employee Jimmy Iovine, the genesis of the Beats headphone brand with rap star Dr. Dre originally started with the idea of making trainers. Accepting an award at the Revolt music conference in Miami, Florida, the 61-year-old Iovine on Tuesday used the spotlight to talk about Steve Jobs, Beats headphones and to say that the distribution of music must be improved otherwise music is likely to lose its inherent value in society. “I met Steve Jobs and the team at Apple, and I thought: this is where cool lives right now. The party is at Steve’s house,” explained Iovine. “This was a man who understood the lyrics, who understood the music, who understood The Beatles and Bob Dylan, but who also in a visionary way, truly understood lifestyle and technology. “In other words, this was a great and dangerous man who I quickly decided to make my friend.” Iovine was a key player in the negotiations over the setup of Apple’s iTunes Music Store in 2003, when he was at Interscope, a label inside Universal Music. After discussions with Jobs, he backed the idea of licensing per-song downloads, and pressed Doug Morris, Universal’s head, to sign with Apple. ‘Let’s not do sneakers – let’s do speakers’ Years later Dre was approached by his own lawyer Peter Paterno, who suggested setting up a trainer brand to expand Dre’s personal business with merchandise. Dre told Iovine, who decided sneakers weren’t where the future lay for music brand expansion. “The shining example of Steve Jobs and his company stuck in my head,” Iovine explained. “I said, ‘Dre, let’s not do sneakers – let’s do speakers.’” Beats originally saw Iovine and Dre team up with Monster, then primarily a cable manufacturer. Beats later split from Monster, and was bought by Apple in May for $3bn, the iPhone maker’s largest-ever acquisition. Beats had also developed a streaming music service, Beats Music, before the Apple purchase, promising on-demand music curated by music professionals and critics. That was an attempt to change the way music was distributed, but Iovine believes more is needed. Don’t stop the music “The great artists of music have always innovated and boldly changed the game, but the industry itself has not,” he explained. “Too often, the music business allowed third-party companies to innovate for us – and that simply does not work any more.” Apple was one of those companies; from its opening in April 2003, the iTunes Music Store became the largest music vendor online or offline in the US by 2008. “We must face the fact that our delivery and distribution systems are too sterile and not compelling enough for a new generation of young people who love music in their own way,” warned Iovine. “If we don’t fix the distribution of music, we run the risk of music being sent out into the world in such an uninspired way that music loses its value – and not just its financial value, but even worse, its emotional value too – and therefore its position as arguably the most dominant art form going forward. “Ladies and gentleman, the time has come for the music business itself to innovate.” Despite once being part of the music industry, Iovine now has different allegiances as an Apple employee. Apple hasn’t said yet what it will do with Beats: “We closed the Beats transition in July and we’re off to a great start with some wonderful plans we’ll share with you in the future,” was all that chief executive Tim Cook would say in the recent quarterly earnings call. Apple is however expected to apply downward pressure on music subscription prices by lowering Beats Music contracts to $5 a month, pushing music labels for more extensive price cuts to achieve that price. The most valuable iTunes users spend an average of $60 buying music downloads in a year, which equates to $5 a month. But many people buy far less, and so can’t be tempted with subscription packages that cost more. With the shift to streaming, though, Apple risks losing those download buyers to rival companies such as Spotify. Apple’s argument is that pricing subscription services at $5 a month will mean labels earn the same amount of money as they would from music purchasers. • Apple will not shut down Dr Dre’s Beats Music but could fold it into iTunes | ['technology/apple', 'technology/digital-music-and-audio', 'music/drdre', 'music/music', 'technology/technology', 'technology/gadgets', 'technology/computing', 'technology/itunes', 'technology/spotify', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/samuel-gibbs'] | technology/gadgets | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2014-10-22T12:20:20Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2021/aug/23/extinction-rebellion-blocks-busy-junction-in-london | Extinction Rebellion blocks busy junction in day one of new London campaign | Extinction Rebellion protesters have blocked one of Covent Garden’s busiest junctions on the first day of the group’s latest wave of protests targeting London. At about midday on Monday, activists from the group chained themselves together to block the roundabout at Long Acre as a van pulled up with a pink table structure. It was quickly assembled and hundreds of other activists streamed to the roundabout. Activists said the 4 metre-high structure, emblazoned with the slogan “Come to the table”, is intended to stay in place for the duration of Extinction Rebellion’s planned fortnight of protest, which the group has said will target the City of London to highlight the role of high finance in the climate crisis. XR said: “As floods, fire and famine break out around the world, it is clear that climate breakdown is here now, and there is no choice left now but to take urgent action. Everyone deserves a seat at the table to have a say in how to tackle the greatest crisis of our times.” Protesters remained in place throughout the day, with officers from the Metropolitan police attempting to impose one-way cordons on the protest that allowed people to leave but prevented any more from joining. Numbers appeared lower than at previous XR protests, with the location seemingly chosen as one that would look crowded even with comparatively few protesters. Activists used lock-on devices to block the roads leading to their occupation, which they said they believed they could keep going for days. At 7pm, police announced through a van-mounted loudspeaker that they had imposed conditions on the protest under section 14 of the Public Order Act. As reggae played from a mobile sound system, officers moved into the crowd and began making arrests. The order, signed by Supt Wayne Matthews, and publicised via social media, said he believed the assembly “may result in serious disruption to the community”. XR protesters targeted for arrest responded by lying supine on the floor, forcing police to use four officers to carry away each protester. By 8.30pm a small nucleus of protesters remained around the table structure. Police later said they had made 52 arrests in relation to the protest. Tristan Strange, 39, from Swindon, was chained to another activist beneath the chassis of a flatbed truck. He said: “By taking these arguably drastic actions, I hope that it makes some of the passersby, or the people who read about it, think about why we are worried enough to do that and it conveys there really is something to worry about.” Laura Amherst, 31, from Brighton, sat on a piece of street furniture topless with XR stickers covering her nipples. She said she was protesting to “raise awareness of how important it is to take the climate crisis seriously”. “People don’t take it seriously and we really need to cut our emissions, we really need to take individual action,” she said. The Met said it was putting into action a policing plan for the expected fortnight of protests. The force’s deputy assistant commissioner, Matt Twist, said: “Like everyone else, Extinction Rebellion have the right to assemble and the right to protest. “However, these rights are qualified and are to be balanced against the rights of others. They do not have the right to cause serious disruption to London’s communities and prevent them going about their lawful business.” On Friday, Twist had said his officers would not be deterred by a recent supreme court ruling, known as the Ziegler ruling, that obstructing the highway could be a legitimate and lawful form of protest. But on the ground, police appeared to be being careful in their approach to protesters, asking them what their intentions were and warning them that they might be committing an offence. The Guardian did not see many arrests taking place. Earlier in the day, thousands of people had gathered in Trafalgar Square for an “opening ceremony”. Launching on the 230th anniversary of the Haitian revolution, XR’s “impossible rebellion” comes after the latest IPCC report suggested that human civilisation may have passed a crucial tipping point in carbon dioxide emissions. Protesters had begun a march from Trafalgar Square and headed up Charing Cross Road, which was apparently a diversion to keep police busy while other activists built the structure on Long Acre. Lautaro Illayux from Colombia spoke at the opening ceremony and marched carrying the Wiphala, the flag of indigenous Latin Americans. He said: “Communities in the global south have been in resistance to this death system since it was first established 500 years ago … There is no way out of this climate emergency without ancestral knowledge.” In a tweet, the Met said: “A group of protesters have blocked the roads around Long Acre junction in Westminster with a structure. Officers are on scene and specialist teams are being deployed. Road closures are in place.” | ['environment/extinction-rebellion', 'environment/environment', 'world/protest', 'uk/uk', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damien-gayle', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-environment'] | environment/extinction-rebellion | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2021-08-23T18:16:02Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2011/jul/08/tourism-iceland-whaling | Tourists to experience a day in the life of an Icelandic whaler | Icelandic whalers, fed up with animal welfare groups telling them to stop killing whales, have found a new way to make money and persuade people of their point of view. From next month they will invite tourists to go out to sea with them to watch minke and other whales close-up. The holidaymakers will then get to "experience" the life of a whaler, see and hear harpoons being fired, touch a whale tail, inspect the internal organs of whales and sit down for a tasty meal of blubber and whale meat with the captain. "We won't actually kill any whales", said Gunnar Jonsson, the manager and owner of Hrefnuveiðimanna, Iceland's Minke Whalers Association. "The idea is to take people out in the close season to give them an idea of what we do. This is cultural tourism. There has been a lot of interest. We have bookings from groups in England and Germany." The news comes as more than 100 pro- and anti-whaling countries prepare for the International Whaling Commission's annual meeting in Jersey next week. They will hear that the Japanese tsunami and the Fukushima nuclear accident in March may have impacted heavily on whale populations in the north Pacific. According to French conservation group Robin des Bois, large numbers of young minke whales were passing close to the Fukushima reactors around the time of the accident. Apart from the massive debris and pollution from destroyed industrial facilities, nuclear company Tepco has admitted dumping tens of thousands of tonnes of highly radioactive water into the sea since the tsunami. Two minke whales caught off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido have shown elevated values of caesium–137. Japan – which along with Norway and Iceland is one of the few countries to allow commercial whaling – is believed to be reconsidereing its whaling position following the tsunami, which wiped out one of the country's main whaling ports and seriously damaged its ageing fleet. Jonsson hopes to charge tourists visiting Iceland between $200-$300 and take them out in groups of 15 to 20. "We have seen that people enjoy whale-watching, and many people ask us how whaling is done, but we are not going to push whaling. Now they can learn about the culture." But the unusual tourist offering was dismissed by Iceland's whale-watching industry as "not welcome". "We are not happy with this. There is not much profit in whaling these days so we think it is a way to drum up their business which is selling whale meat," said Rannveig Grétarsdóttir, head of IceWhale, the Icelandic whale-watching association. From only a few tourists 10 years ago, nearly 200,000 foreigners now go whale-watching off Iceland every year, says the government's tourist ministry. But the boom in numbers has also led to an unexpected surge in whale-eating, with more than 100 restaurants and shops now offering tourists whale as an exotic meat. This is very distressing for conservation groups which this week appealed to tourists to watch whales – but not to touch them. "Iceland's whalers are putting more effort into promoting the sale of whale meat and are now offering smoked and marinated whale meat in addition to whale steaks for grilling. Sadly, we are seeing increasing numbers of tourists walking off whale watching vessels and straight into restaurants that serve whale meat. They are inadvertently helping to keep the cruel whaling industry afloat," says Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society spokeswoman Vanessa Williams-Grey. "We ask that people resist the temptation to give the meat a try despite whatever they may be told by local whale hunters. The fact is that only a small percentage of Icelandic people eat the meat these days. The whales suffer a long and slow death, they are not suitable as a species for human harvesting and, contrary to myth, they are not responsible for reducing local fish stocks." There is also increasing evidence that whalers and whale watching companies are now chasing the same whales, giving tourists an unexpected insight into the industry. "On at least one occasion this season, the minke whalers killed and processed a whale in waters designated as a protected area in Faxaflói Bay, near Reykjavik, also a prime whale watch area," said Williams-Grey. | ['environment/whaling', 'environment/whales', 'environment/marine-life', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/environment', 'world/iceland', 'world/world', 'tone/news', 'travel/iceland', 'travel/travel', 'environment/cetaceans', 'type/article', 'profile/johnvidal', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international'] | environment/cetaceans | BIODIVERSITY | 2011-07-08T12:59:10Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
media/pda/2009/mar/06/bskyb-digitalvideo | Interview: Griff Parry, BSkyB's director of video-on-demand: Sky Player growing, may eye Canvas | BSkyB (NYSE: BSY) is adding six more live streaming channels to the Sky Player online pay TV platform it relaunched in December. With the addition of UKTV's Eden and GOLD, National Geographic Wild and Sky's own Sky Real Lives and Sky Movies Screen 1 and 2, Sky Player is now becoming an internet counterpart to the premium satellite offering that has been Sky's core for the last 20 years. On-demand director Griff Parry told paidContent:UK Sky's plans for the future... • The strategy is twofold: First, Sky Player is now untethered from the satellite proposition - meaning new, online-only customers can join despite not having a dish on their home. Second, nevermind Slingbox; for those who are Sky satellite subscribers, Sky Player is all about place-shifting - free to those who also take broadband or multiroom, the service's 18 live channels are available not just in rooms beyond the lounge, but anywhere there is an internet connection; there's also VOD content from across 23 TV channels, too. "Long-term, by nature Sky is a platform operator, an aggregator and a retailer - what we're trying to do with Sky Player is broadly replicate the proposition you would get on a set-top box. We're reaffirming ourselves as the natural aggregator of TV, online." • From PC back to TV, and beyond: Though Sky Player is currently available only on computer screens, the idea is to do "Sky TV to devices that aren't (just) set-top boxes": "As we enhance Sky Player, we will expand it to devices linked to TVs. The range of devices will extended over time, just as iPlayer has extended..." Just like the BBC's player, Sky's roadmap includes games consoles and mobile - "both are definitely in our plans". Sky already has a relationship with Sony (NYSE: SNE) to offer shows to PSP handhelds via the Go!View brand, so one can at least imagine Sky Player being delivered to Playstation 3, though this wasn't confirmed. The satcaster already offers live channels via mobile operators. • To IPTV, under Canvas?: Parry also said Sky Player could end up also being available on the next generation of IPTV set-top boxes. Hypothetically, BT (NYSE: BT) Vision would seem an obvious contender, but what are Sky's views on the BBC's proposed Project Canvas open IPTV platform... ? Whilst, on the face of it, Sky's aim to migrate its status as pay-TV gatekeeper in to new platforms seems to run counter the BBC's hope to offer a free alternative via Canvas, Parry said: "It could potentially be quite an interesting development for us on the Sky Player side." He said Sky Player should be platform-agnostic but, with the Canvas proposal only published a week ago, stressed it's early days: "It's not clear to anyone really what Canvas is - we're looking for a degree of openness and information. We have quite exacting standards with regard to user experience." On the other side, Sky Player itself already offers iPlayer access, though via web links and not direct video content. From paidContent:UK: • Stats LLC acquiring PA SportsTicker • Dutch online language learning start-up Myngle raises €950,000 • Earnings: WPP predicts two percent drop in 2009 revenue; 2008 profits, revenue up • Crain Communications pulls plug on FinancialWeek.com; folds two European magazines • Player X gets portal on Telefónica • Beatles game due September; rock band tie-in; pricey instruments • Print Round-Up: Trinity Mirror; Metro; Economist Group; Archant; Dagenham paper; Sport Media Group From paidContent: • Vidyo nabs $15m third round; adds new chief financial officer • Cashing in on the used video-game market: now it's Amazon's turn • Industry Moves: Mika Salmi is leaving MTVN; memo from McGrath • VMTV sell-off looks more likely as chief executive Wall exits • Barnes & Noble buys its way into e-books with Fictionwise acquisition • Google's latest money grab: expandable display-ad units | ['media/pda', 'media/bskyb', 'technology/digitalvideo', 'technology/television', 'media/digital-media', 'media/media', 'tone/blog', 'media/video-on-demand', 'media/youview', 'type/video', 'type/article', 'profile/robert-andrews'] | technology/digitalvideo | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2009-03-06T11:39:01Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
environment/2010/mar/14/lucy-siegle-innovator-matthias-kauer-solar-cell | The innovator: Matthias Kauer | "Small is beautiful" is a longstanding eco mantra – and its latest example is a stamp-sized incarnation of the solar panel. Even with its minute proportions, the new solar cell generates three to four times the amount of power (10-12 watts) that a conventional cell could at the same size. "But the real point," explains Matthias Kauer of the Sharp Solar Research & Development Laboratory, "is that once you add in a comparatively cheap bit of kit like a lens, this tiny cell can then generate 100 times more power than an ordinary cell." It's exactly the power surge solar photovoltaic panels need. PV panels use a thin layer of semi-conducting material, usually silicon, to generate an electric charge when exposed to sunlight. They are often derided, the assumption being that they don't generate a useful amount of energy, but Dr Kauer is quick to point out that even the average panel is 15 to 20 times more efficient at converting solar energy than plants. His solar cell is superior still. It's already 35.8% efficient in sunlight, and he's confident that in future years that can increase to 50%. At the heart of the pint-sized innovation is the new material in the cell. The day the research team found the right proportions of indium gallium arsenide nitride, the super cell began to come together. "Those breakthrough days are good," says Kauer. "I've had a couple in my 10-year career so far, and this one was major." If only we lived in a sun-soaked country. "That's a common misconception," says Kauer. "The UK has as much sun as parts of Germany, where solar panels are commonplace." The average amount of sun hitting an area 30cm in diameter is equivalent to the power of 20,000 AA batteries. "The exciting thing is that we can keep gaining efficiency," says Kauer, "and one day have cars, planes, ships and entire cities running on free solar power." The outlook is sunny. | ['environment/series/the-innovator', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/ethical-living', 'environment/environment', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'tone/features', 'type/article', 'profile/lucysiegle', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/magazine', 'theobserver/magazine/life-and-style'] | environment/solarpower | ENERGY | 2010-03-14T00:05:18Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2020/dec/15/murray-darling-basin-plan-will-need-overhaul-in-2026-as-droughts-increase-report-says | Murray-Darling Basin plan will need overhaul in 2026 as droughts increase, report says | The impact of climate change on the Murray-Darling Basin will require a major adaption of the plan in 2026 to allow for more frequent dry periods, which will likely occur on average every five years instead of every 10. The assessment of the climate risk facing the Murray-Darling Basin plan is included as part of the 2020 review of the progress on the plan, released on Tuesday. The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) is not proposing to alter the plan before its final review date in 2024 but the progress report has flagged that further adaptations to water use are inevitable. “It is clear that a substantial shift in focus and effort is needed to adapt water management in the basin to climate change – which will reshape water availability and use in the basin,” the report said. “The unprecedented dry and warm conditions and the associated record low inflows in the basin are an important warning sign to basin communities, interest groups and governments. “Without the environmental flows provided for by the basin plan, the already devastating environmental impacts, such as the Lower Darling fish deaths, would have been worse. The basin plan and water management arrangements in the basin will need to be responsive to climate extremes in the future.” Based on modelling by the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology, which is also being released, the warnings in the plan are based on CSIRO’s scenario B. It assumes a two-degree rise in temperatures and a 10% fall in rainfall. But the CSIRO modelled other scenarios with far more dire falls in rainfall. The MDBA is not proposing any immediate action, even though the current plan does not include the likely impact of climate change, despite there appearing to have been a step change in rainfall patterns in the basin. The review undertaken by the MDBA essentially amounts to marking its own homework but chief executive Philip Glyde defended it, saying the MDBA had relied on outside input from scientists and consultants and would make as much of the underlying data available as it could. It has concluded that progress has been made toward achieving the plan’s goals. “The evidence shows that the basin plan has cushioned the Murray-Darling Basin from the impacts of this most recent drought. Without water for the environment, the impact on the health of the basin would have been more damaging and long-lasting,” Glyde said. “In the face of climate challenges, we have still seen good progress and outcomes that should be celebrated.” However, it also identified shortcomings where the plan is lagging behind schedule. The most obvious of these is the progress on New South Wales’s 20 water resource plans. The plans were lodged more than a year late by NSW and the MDBA does not expect to finalise them until the end of 2021. These plans, which include the detailed rules on how water will be shared between users, are crucial to the plan’s success. Glyde also noted the states were lagging behind schedule on implementing what are known as the Sustainable Diversion Limit adjustment mechanism projects. These projects proposed by the states, and funded with $45bn of commonwealth funds, aim to improve water efficiency or remove constraints, such as low bridges, that prevent water from being used to assist the environment. “Until all components of the basin plan are operational, the full benefits for basin communities and the nation cannot be delivered,” the report warns. The report also puts particular emphasis on the need to make progress on recognising cultural flows and ensuring First Nations people are included in both the planning and processes of the basin plan. “First Nations, basin governments and the MDBA should develop a practical pathway for the use of water for cultural and economic outcomes,” the report says. “This should build on current knowledge and fast-track initiatives, such as the $40 million Cultural Flows project for First Nations. Action should be focused on short-term practical activities, as well as build the foundations for enhanced First Nations outcomes in the longer term.” Glyde said the MDBA was committed to working with First Nations to identify options that enhance outcomes for the large number of communities in the basin. “The appointment of a First Nations Authority member will help the MDBA collaborate with First Nations to enhance our knowledge of the Murray–Darling and apply this to water management,” he said. The MDBA said it was also committed to improving transparency and would work to make more scientific data and its models open to all. Professor Richard Kingsford, a spokesman for the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, said: “There is some really good stuff in the report, but there are some really difficult issues ahead. “It does tackle climate change – it says it is happening – and to some extent it’s true that opening up the plan and saying we will be revisiting it would be difficult. But there are some serious questions around whether we have the right level of sustainability.” The current plan was drawn up using historical data on rainfall and flows and did not take account of climate change. Glyde argues that the plan is one of the biggest and most ambitious in the world. Among the achievements claimed in the report are that the plan has protected flow regimes across much of the southern basin, delivered positive ecological responses through providing water for the environment and protected some rivers from the worst impacts of the unprecedented drought. It also claimed success in delivering water to support the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth ecosystems through the drought, substantially avoiding the environmental degradation that occurred during the millennium drought. But it acknowledged the basin plan was unable to effectively support many floodplain and wetland ecosystems until implementation of critical improved water infrastructure and river operating rules were in place. | ['australia-news/murray-darling-basin', 'environment/water', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/environment', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'australia-news/indigenous-australians', 'environment/drought', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/anne-davies', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/drought | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-12-14T16:30:40Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2016/apr/18/woodman-spare-that-tree | Woodman, spare that tree | A notice appeared on a lamp post in our lane, an application to remove a conifer. While that tree was not a thing of great beauty, I knew it was important to our birds. Blackbirds and thrushes used it as a song-post, proclaiming their territories, and it provided cover for small birds travelling down from Kendal Fell into the gardens to feed. There was cover for fledglings too – I knew this because of watching the fortunes of our garden blackbirds and their broods over the years. I knew too that there were blackbirds nesting in the hedge in the lane. I’d seen the telltale signs of one bird feeding at a time, taking beakfuls of insects back to the hedge, the male adopting his swirling, banking flight, and on one occasion winging past my ear, zooming away uttering his alarm call, letting me know I was in the way. I called the council to arbitrate on behalf of the birds, but the tree officer said there’s no precedent in law to preserve trees for wildlife, and without a tree preservation order there’s no way of safeguarding any particular tree. It’s illegal to fell a tree containing active nests or to disturb wild birds, but the responsibility for surveying lies with the owner or tree surgeon. In the past five years there have been no prosecutions for nest disturbance in Cumbria. A few weeks later, the growl of a chainsaw. Two Land Rovers had arrived and a chipping machine – the latter parked immediately adjacent to the nest. I went out to tell the men about the site, pointing to it. They were polite, though the machine stayed where it was. Then the deafening noise began, and the tree was dismantled. That afternoon a singular keening note pierced the air, the call blackbirds used to contact the young as they fledged – either to entice them from the nest, or to call to them from their newfound territory once they’d flown. The next day the two adults appeared together feeding in our garden; the nest was clearly lost. Resilient birds, they will no doubt begin again. Follow Country diary on Twitter: @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/birds', 'environment/forests', 'environment/spring', 'environment/environment', 'uk/ruralaffairs', 'uk/uk', 'environment/conservation', 'lifeandstyle/gardens', 'lifeandstyle/lifeandstyle', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/karen-lloyd', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2016-04-18T04:30:07Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2023/jan/24/eu-could-end-reliance-on-china-electric-car-batteries-by-2030-investment-joe-biden-369bn-green-subsidies | EU ‘could end reliance on China for electric car batteries by 2030’ | Europe could end its reliance on China for electric car batteries by 2030 but only if it keeps pace with Joe Biden’s $369bn (£298bn) green subsidy spree, experts predict. A report by the renewable energy campaign group Transport & Environment said the EU was on track to produce enough lithium-ion battery cells by 2027 to meet demand and cut China from supply chains. “Li-ion” batteries are rechargeable and used in consumer electronics and electric cars. The study forecasts that Europe’s reliance on China for the refining and processing of battery metals could also fall dramatically – predicting more than 50% of Europe’s refined lithium demand can come from European projects by 2030. There are now no lithium refineries in Europe, and about 90% of the world’s processing of the metal takes place in east Asia. But refinery projects under way in Germany and France are expected to boost Europe’s prospects, and planned EU legislation on critical raw materials is designed to ensure they meet high environmental standards. MPs have raised concerns that Britain’s electric vehicle supply chain is overly reliant on China, a key vulnerability amid political tensions between Beijing and the west. Britain has banned the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, while the EU has committed to phase out combustion engines from 2035. However, Biden’s flagship Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has attracted green investment to the US and put pressure on Britain and the EU to respond at a time when policymakers have been levying windfall taxes on renewable energy firms. The T&E report showed two-thirds of Europe’s demand for cathodes – which are also used in batteries and contain critical raw materials – can be produced on the continent by 2027, with projects such as Umicore in Poland and Northvolt in Sweden contributing. However, the study’s authors warned that companies could still move projects planned for Europe to the US, tempted by the tax benefits and other subsidies provided by the IRA for localising battery supply chains in the US. Julia Poliscanova, senior director for vehicles and e-mobility at T&E, said: “Today half of the lithium-ion battery cells used in the EU are already made there. But the Inflation Reduction Act has changed the rules of the game, and Europe needs to put more money on the table or risk losing planned battery factories and jobs to America.” T&E called for a dedicated EU fund with cash raised through joint debt issuance to aid investment into electric vehicles, batteries and renewables. Last week, Britishvolt, the battery startup that had hoped to build a “gigafactory” near Blyth, Northumberland, collapsed into administration. The company struggled to find funding and was denied access to promised state funds after failing to hit government targets. Its collapse has sparked calls for a comprehensive industrial strategy to map out Britain’s approach to the green economy, including the car industry’s switch to electric vehicles. On Monday, Tony Danker, the director general of the Confederation of British Industry, said the government had failed to invest in the green economy, and is falling behind the US and EU. He said the US and Europe are “outspending and outsmarting us” in their approaches to encouraging low carbon investments. “While our competitors across Europe, Asia and the US are making their move, and going hell for leather, we seem to be second guessing ourselves and hoping for the best,” he said in a speech at University College London. | ['business/technology', 'business/manufacturing-sector', 'global-development/climate-finance', 'business/automotive-industry', 'world/eu', 'environment/electric-cars', 'environment/green-economy', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'business/business', 'campaign/email/business-today', 'technology/motoring', 'type/article', 'profile/alex-lawson', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2023-01-24T06:00:25Z | true | ENERGY |
australia-news/2021/aug/14/industry-and-climate-groups-remain-in-the-dark-when-it-comes-to-australias-emissions-reduction-strategy | Industry and energy groups remain in the dark when it comes to Australia’s emissions reduction strategy | Leading Australian industry groups have warned that the government has failed to consult them on a promised long-term emissions reduction strategy, despite it planning to present it at pivotal climate talks in Glasgow in just 80 days. The government has been saying for more than 18 months that the strategy is in development and has promised to release it publicly and to the UN before the Glasgow talks in November. The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has faced increased pressure over his stance this week after the UN’s climate panel released a major report showing “unequivocal” human influence on the atmosphere, ocean and land. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said Australia would experience worsening heat extremes, bushfires, marine and land heatwaves and rising sea levels. The report has intensified calls for the government to introduce policies to drive deeper emissions cuts before 2030. Morrison continued to resist calls to commit Australia to a 2050 net zero emissions target and to improve the government’s six-year-old target to cut emissions by 26% to 28% by 2030 based on 2005 levels – a goal a senior US government climate official this described as insufficient. The government has remained tight-lipped over details of its long term strategy or the timing of its release. The Australian Industry Group, the country’s largest employer group, told Guardian Australia it had not been consulted on the strategy. It said it should include the 2050 net zero goal. Tennant Reed, Ai Group’s climate, energy and environment policy adviser, said it was unusual there had not been consultation with interest groups about the strategy given there had been with climate policy, including the government’s technology investment roadmap, and the target it took to the 2015 Paris climate summit. He said broad consultation was “much more likely to identify the key issues and best solutions, and build consensus around them”. Reed said the long term strategy should include a medium-term emissions goal and a “clear long-term national goal of net zero emissions by 2050 to guide government policy and private investment”. It should assess the economic and social impacts of both climate change and measures taken to lessen its effects, as well as international trends, he said. “That is a tall order, but within the capabilities of the Australian government,” he said. Reed said he expected the government’s technology roadmap – which sets so-called “stretch goals” for reducing the cost of carbon capture and storage, soil carbon and low-carbon steel and hydrogen – would form part of the strategy. Kane Thornton, chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, said the council was yet to be consulted on the strategy, but would welcome being approached. He said council research had found investment in large-scale clean energy projects had fallen to a five-year low, and the country needed a plan to turn that around. “Without a clear plan for emissions reduction, Australia risks not being able to attract the levels of investment seen in many other countries who are experiencing surging investment, particularly in solar and wind,” he said. The primary oil and gas lobby group, the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (Appea), also said while it was regularly consulted on climate policy it had not been asked for input into the strategy. Damian Dwyer, Appea’s deputy chief executive, said its position was that gas had fewer emissions than coal when burned for electricity and was used in manufacturing for jobs that “renewables simply cannot do”. He said “the strategy should recognise that “demand for gas is growing and that our product can help Australia and the world reduce emissions”. The International Energy Agency has said there is no room for any new fossil fuel projects, including new gas fields, if the world wants to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Australia’s biggest electricity consumer, the Tomago aluminium smelter in New South Wales, said earlier this week it would be powered almost entirely by renewables by 2029. The government has been saying for more than a year that it is developing the strategy. In February last year, the energy and emissions reduction minister, Angus Taylor, said the government would take it to the international Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow which at that time were scheduled for November that year. In late December, the government reiterated its 2015 target as part of a resubmission to the UN of what is known as a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) – the pledge each signatory to the climate convention was expected to make under the Paris agreement, and is being asked to improve before Glasgow. Analysis of Australia’s NDC has founds its targets are consistent with global warming of more than 2C. Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Guardian Australia asked Taylor’s office when it planned to release the long-term strategy, if it would include new targets and who had been consulted during its development. A spokeswoman referred to the transcript of a press conference from this week, and to the Hansard record of Question Time proceedings in parliament. None of those contained details of the strategy or when it would be released. At the press conference, Morrison said commitments to reduce emissions “are backed up by plans, and we don’t make them lightly.” He said Australians “deserve to know the implications and the costs and what the plans are”, that he had done that before the last election and “I will do that again as we go into the commitments later this year.” | ['australia-news/angus-taylor', 'environment/global-climate-talks', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'australia-news/scott-morrison', 'australia-news/australia-news', 'environment/ipcc', 'australia-news/australian-politics', 'environment/environment', 'world/unitednations', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/graham-readfearn', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/australia-news'] | environment/global-climate-talks | CLIMATE_POLICY | 2021-08-13T22:03:37Z | true | CLIMATE_POLICY |
environment/2021/aug/25/extinction-rebellion-protesters-block-oxford-circus-in-london | Extinction Rebellion protesters block Oxford Circus in London | Extinction Rebellion protesters have blocked Oxford Circus in London, the site of one of the group’s most famous occupations, as women took the lead on the third day of its latest campaign of disobedience. Just before 2pm, protesters swarmed into the middle of the intersection between Regent Street and Oxford Street, London’s busiest shopping district, and erected a pink structure and sound system. Police charged into the road to seize the structure and were then surrounded by female protesters. Women who spoke to the Guardian claimed officers trampled them as they rushed to secure their cordon. The Metropolitan police said as of 6pm on Wednesday, a further six had been arrested for a “variety of offences”, bringing the number of arrests made over the course of the protests to 196. Helen, 58, from Devon, who declined to give her surname, said: “They climbed in the middle. We had no intention to surround the police. Our intention was to protect what’s inside our ring, our circle. We all just had to scream because we were glued together.” Earlier an inclusive Fint (female, intersex, non-binary and trans) protest mobilisation rallied at the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus and marched through Soho. Bhavini Patel, an XR activist who spoke at the rally, said: “Today’s protest is calling upon feminine energy and recognising that women’s voices are still not part of the solution and the centring of what this emergency requires. “We know that women, given the chance, know how to find the words and the power and the courage that’s needed to make the change that’s needed for humanity.” Marvina Newton, who also addressed protesters, said: “The idea is to talk about what we need to do as women to change the scope of our future. As women we need to stand united in everything we do.” Larni Aura, 15, from Fulham, had joined the protest with her mother, Ima Aura, 33. “This is for my future and my whole generation’s future and the next generation’s future, so it’s crucial at this point for as many people as possible to get together and be here,” Larni said. Her mother added: “I feel it’s my duty to educate her and open her eyes to the climate crisis, and I think as citizens we have the right to protest.” XR said its activists had intended to put up a 2.5-metre-tall structure at Oxford Circus designed to look like a giant table. In the event it looked half-finished after the speedy intervention by police. Explaining the rationale behind a specifically female-led action, the group pointed to research showing women are especially vulnerable to the effects of a worsening climate, but are also in many cases leading the fight against the climate crisis. The Metropolitan police tweeted: “Officers intervened when protesters were building a structure at Oxford Circus. Some individuals have glued themselves to the structure, specialist officers are working to support their removal. There will be some disruption to traffic in the area as roads are currently blocked, which we are working to reduce.” Some women were hurt as police charged in. Zoe Cohen, 50, from Warrington, had her glued hand ripped from the woman next to her. It was bandaged when she spoke to the Guardian. She said: “I’m a white middle-aged woman, I’ve not experienced police violence before … now I have direct experience of police violence. The public need to know that women and mothers trying to protect their children are being violently attacked by our state police. We pay their wages and they basically attacked us for trying to protect all life on earth.” Just before 4pm, police issued a section 14 notice, imposing restrictions on the demonstration. “The protest and assembly at Oxford Circus must cease immediately,” the force wrote on Twitter, and a van was deployed to the protest to play the terms of the order through a loudspeaker. Officers first targeted drummers from Extinction Rebellion’s samba, ordering them to leave the area. Once the music was silenced, police brought in specialist officers to cut loose those who had been locked in place. “It disheartens people when they remove the band,” said one samba player, who gave her name as Free. “Also, we bring public attention. When the band start playing, people will come and watch, and the police don’t like that.” Activists with Animal Rebellion, XR’s animal rights sister group, reported that 36 of its supporters had been arrested after staging an overnight occupation of a McDonald’s branch in Leicester Square. The group said the protest was intended to “call out the fast-food chain for its role in destroying the planet”. | ['environment/extinction-rebellion', 'environment/environment', 'uk/london', 'uk/uk', 'world/protest', 'environment/activism', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/damien-gayle', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2021-08-25T18:00:53Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/2023/jul/12/stitch-in-time-france-to-help-pay-for-clothes-to-be-mended-to-cut-waste | Stitch in time: France to help pay for clothes to be mended to cut waste | A broken heel, a rip in trousers, buttons missing from a shirt? Don’t throw them away if you live in France, where the government will pay a “repair bonus” to have them mended in a new scheme aimed at cutting waste. An estimated 700,000 tonnes of clothing is thrown away in France every year, two-thirds ending up in landfill. From October, people will be able to claim back between €6 and €25 of the cost of mending clothes and shoes in workshops or at cobblers that have joined the scheme. Bérangère Couillard, the secretary of state for ecology, announced the financial incentives during a visit to a responsible fashion hub in Paris. The repair bonus will be paid from a €154m fund the government has set aside for the next five years, she said. She invited all sewing workshops and shoemakers to join the scheme, which will be run by the eco-organisation Refashion. “The goal is to support those who carry out repairs,” Couillard said during the visit. This would encourage workshops and retailers to offer repair services with “the hope of recreating jobs”. More than 100bn textiles – the terms covers clothing, shoes and household linen – are sold worldwide annually. In France, this amounts to about 10.5kgs a year for each person. Refashion aims to encourage people not only to repair and reuse, but to reduce the amount of textiles they buy and to donate those they no longer want. It says about 56% of the donations can be used again and 32% can be recycled into something new. The repair bonus scheme is part of a wider push by the French government, starting at the end of last year, to reform the textile industry, one of the most polluting on the planet, and to combat what is termed fast fashion. Clothing and textile shops must also label items with the material used and the country where it was produced and manufactured. Measures to encourage consumers to repair, reuse and recycle clothing follow a similar scheme offering bonuses to those who have household appliances repaired. In 2020, France passed a law aimed at changing production methods and consumption habits in relation to household goods in order to cut down on waste, conserve natural resources and limit damage to biodiversity while addressing the climate crisis. The legislation takes the form of a six-year plan that began with an education and information campaign outlining targets for the reduction, reuse and recycling of products, including targets for eliminating single-use plastics. New measures are introduced under the legislation each year. In 2022, public buildings including railway stations, hospitals and schools were required to install a water fountain, and at the beginning of this year restaurants with more than 20 seats and fast-food outlets were banned from using disposable cutlery, plates and cups for meals consumed on site. France in 2016 banned supermarkets from destroying unsold food instead of donating it for redistribution. Companies are now also required to be more open about the planned obsolescence of goods they produce and encourage the publication of a “repairability index” to detail the ease or difficulty with which a product could be mended. Further restrictions on products containing microplastics, including cosmetics, shampoos, hair dyes and shower gels, and the use of plastic wrappings will come into effect in the next three years. | ['environment/recycling', 'world/france', 'environment/waste', 'environment/landfill', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'world/europe-news', 'environment/overconsumption', 'fashion/fashion-industry', 'environment/ethical-living', 'campaign/email/this-is-europe', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/kim-willsher', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-foreign'] | environment/waste | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2023-07-12T15:36:13Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
news/2018/jul/02/weatherwatch-wildfires-uk-peatland-carbon-moors-moorland | Weatherwatch: wildfires highlight importance of UK's peatlands | The wildfires in Lancashire and Greater Manchester are a disaster, not least because of the blot on the landscape they will leave behind once the flames are out. Although the hot dry weather is clearly to blame, so too is damage over the years from drainage that dried out the peat and turned it into a powder keg. Peatlands may not look glamorous but they are a hugely important national treasure. They help prevent floods by soaking up rain like a sponge, and can hold about 20 times their own weight in water. And more than 70% of Britain’s drinking water comes from peatlands, feeding into supplies for 28 million people. The plants in peatlands absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, locking away staggering amounts of carbon – about 5.5bn tonnes, more than half the country’s entire carbon storage – and that helps curb climate change. In comparison, British forests store only 150m tonnes of carbon. However, damaged moorlands do the opposite, releasing vast amounts of greenhouse gases, made even worse when smoke particulates enter the atmosphere. Britain has some of the finest peatlands in the world, but they need protection. They need to be kept wet and prevented from being drained for farming or development, or dug up for garden compost. | ['news/series/weatherwatch', 'uk/weather', 'science/meteorology', 'uk/uk', 'world/wildfires', 'world/natural-disasters', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'uk/greater-manchester', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/jeremy-plester', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2018-07-02T20:30:18Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2008/feb/25/climatechange.transport | Climate protesters arrested after scaling Heathrow jet | A Metropolitan police investigation is under way after four Greenpeace protesters burst through a poorly secured door at Heathrow to scale a British Airways jet today. The four campaigners boarded the 8.15am flight from Manchester to Heathrow carrying high visibility vests and a banner stating "climate emergency – no third runway". On arrival at Heathrow, the Greenpeace members were the last passengers to disembark from the plane at gate five, at the far end of Heathrow's Terminal 1. Once off the aircraft, they ducked through a door next to a branch of Costa Coffee and descended stairs to a set of double doors on the ground floor next to the BA A320 plane. The protesters pushed through the door, which was held in place by a magnet lock, before clambering up mobile stairs attached to the air bridge – used by passengers to get on and off the plane – and climbing on to the top of the jet, where they hoisted their banner. It is understood that Greenpeace identified the route to the airport apron on a recent reconnaissance trip. One of the protesters remained on the ground to assure BA and BAA staff that the stunt was peaceful. A Greenpeace spokesman said the protest had highlighted a "shocking hole" in BAA security at Heathrow, but added that the demonstration was intended to highlight the greater hole in the government's aviation policy, which sanctions a third runway at Heathrow. A spokesman for BAA, the airport's operator, said: "There is an important debate to be had regarding airport expansion, and BAA respects people's democratic right to protest lawfully. "However, direct action on the airfield is unlawful and irresponsible. The government is currently consulting on the future of Heathrow airport and all parties have the opportunity, through the proper democratic process, to make their views known." The GMB union called for an investigation into whether the increasing use of agency staff by BAA had contributed to the security breach. A spokesman for Manchester airport said the protesters were not stopped from boarding the plane because they were not carrying illegal items. He could not confirm whether security staff at Manchester had discovered the banner but allowed the Greenpeace members to board the aircraft. "They were fully ticketed passengers, so if they had the banner in a bag or suitcase and it did not contain anything illegal, it would be put through as normal baggage," he said. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/environment', 'uk/transport', 'world/protest', 'environment/heathrow-third-runway', 'environment/greenpeace', 'world/air-transport', 'type/article', 'profile/danmilmo'] | environment/greenpeace | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2008-02-25T15:51:36Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
world/2020/sep/14/west-coast-air-quality-wildfires-oregon-california-washington | West coast cities face the world's worst air quality as wildfires rage | Four west coast cities in the US currently rank in the top 10 for worst air quality in the world, as wildfires rage up and down the western seaboard, cloaking the entire region in smoke. Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, hold the No 1 and No 2 spots, while San Francisco and Los Angeles sit at four and six. Collectively, with the smoke from the wildfires, these four cities have knocked every city in China out of the top 10 for worst air quality. With wildfires burning more than 3.3m acres in California, 1m acres in Oregon and more than 620,000 acres in Washington state, smoke from these blazes has nearly reached Hawaii to the west and Michigan to the east. Many in California are approaching a month of unhealthy air quality. The state’s fire season kicked off early with a freak barrage of dry lightning in mid-August that sparked a number of infernos, many of which are still burning. The August lightning siege, as firefighters refer to the event, resulted from nearly 14,000 lightning strikes that ignited more than 900 new wildfires. Warm temperatures and dry conditions have fueled additional fires since then. Six of the state’s 20 largest wildfires in its history are currently burning. At least 24 people have died. Ash has rained down on cities such as Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego for weeks now, blowing into the cracks of windows and covering surfaces. Local officials have warned residents to stay indoors and avoid outdoor physical activities. Unhoused Californians and residents forced to evacuate from the wildfires have faced particular challenges with finding shelter amid the current air quality that abides by social distancing. In Berkeley and Oakland, local lawmakers opened air respite centers for vulnerable unhoused residents. Residents in Oregon and Washington are now experiencing what their California counterparts have gone through since mid-August. A heavy haze rests upon the Pacific north-west as wildfires leveled entire neighborhoods last week, killing at least 10 in Oregon. In Clackamas and Marion counties, large blazes remained completely uncontained. The dense smoke mixed with the fog to create visibility issues at night. Washington state residents met much of the same fate over the weekend, as the combined effect of the wildfires in Oregon and the dozens more burning in Washington sent plumes of smoke over the state. Much hoped-for relief in the form of a weather system did not arrive on Monday, as expected, but the National Weather Service hoped that air quality conditions could begin improving later. Scientists are already seeing the health effects of wildfire smoke exposure on residents, with Stanford University recording hospital admissions for asthma rise by 10% and cerebrovascular incidents such as strokes jump by 23% in the days following the August lightning siege in California. Further complicating the health effects of the smoky air quality is a pandemic centered on a virus that affects the lungs. Researchers have expressed concerns that the unhealthy air quality will only intensify the risks of the Covid-19 pandemic, in terms of physical and mental health. | ['world/wildfires', 'us-news/california', 'us-news/oregon', 'us-news/washington-state', 'environment/environment', 'us-news/us-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'us-news/west-coast', 'profile/vivian-ho', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/west-coast-news'] | world/wildfires | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2020-09-14T20:37:10Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2019/may/11/anger-carbon-bootprint-english-football-finals-champions-league-europa-league | As English fans get set to cross Europe, anger rises at football’s carbon bootprint | Controversy has erupted over the environmental impact of football fans travelling across Europe in coming weeks – to watch English sides play each other hundreds of miles from home. Campaigners say staging games between Liverpool and Tottenham in Madrid and Arsenal and Chelsea in Baku, in Azerbaijan, will trigger the release of thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide from planes carrying supporters to the Champions League and Europa League finals. At a time of heightened fears over the impact of climate change, caused by rising fossil fuel emissions, the matches’ effect on the environment is seen by many as dangerous and inexcusable. And others warn that the problem will get worse next year when the Euro 2020 finals are held in a new transcontinental format that will greatly increase the amount of travel for supporters as their teams move back and forth across Europe. The problem was summed up by Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green party. “With Arsenal and Chelsea each being given just 6,000 seats, and sitting just a few miles apart in the capital, surely we are missing an open goal by not hosting the final in London. Packing thousands of fans on to flights is damaging to the environment. The 45,000 fans travelling to both finals will emit around 35,490 tonnes of carbon dioxide. It’s time Uefa did better.” Commenting on the general travel chaos, Jürgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, said: “How can you have finals in Kiev [where Liverpool played last year’s Champions League final] and Baku? I don’t know what these travel guys have for breakfast.” Kevin Miles, chief executive of the Football Supporters’ Federation, added: “We can understand Uefa’s desire to share events around member associations, but this is a clear example of the absurdities it can generate: two very well supported clubs, both from the same city, are having to go thousands of miles away at the same time. That puts enormous pressure on what’s available.” Yet every indication suggests that this process will be repeated next year – in an even more intense, damaging manner. Euro 2020 games will be held not in a single nation or pair of nations, as has happened in the past. Instead matches will be staged in 12 host cities, paired for the six groups of finalists. They are Glasgow and London; Munich and Budapest; Rome and Baku; Amsterdam and Bucharest; Copenhagen and St Petersburg; and Dublin and Bilbao. Fans will have to travel from one to the other, and possibly back again. An example of the travel absurdities this will generate is provided by England. Their group games will be in the UK but if they reach the tournament’s semi-finals then the team’s possible routes back to Wembley for the last four would be via Dublin and Rome if they win their group or via Copenhagen and St Petersburg if they come second, or even Budapest and Baku if they come third. Crucially, fans will not be able to book flights between these cities until they know the results of individual matches – triggering a last-minute frenetic rush to book seats on planes and a massive increase in carbon emissions. This startling carbon-hostile plan has been hatched just as the government is showing signs of pulling back from its expansion of aviation. On 2 May the government’s Committee on Climate Change urged Britain to adopt policies that would allow it to produce no emissions of carbon dioxide by the year 2050. Action is needed now to achieve this goal, warned the committee, which highlighted the aviation industry as one of the trickiest sectors to decarbonise. Some improvements in fossil fuel use could be achieved, it acknowledged. However, curtailing travel by plane in future would be inevitable – a point that has just been acknowledged by Caroline Low, head of aviation at the Department for Transport, who hinted that the government could act to restrict the growth of flying in the UK. According to the BBC she has written to the environmental group Plan B, which is campaigning against the proposed expansion of Heathrow airport. “It may be necessary to consider the Committee on Climate Change’s recommended policy approach for aviation,” she states. The admission was greeted with enthusiasm by Tim Crosland from Plan B. The choice was clear, he said: “The government can either take the necessary action to avoid climate breakdown or it can stick to ‘business as usual’ and expand aviation, the most polluting mode of transport.” | ['environment/environment', 'uk/uk', 'tone/news', 'football/football', 'environment/activism', 'football/championsleague', 'football/uefa-europa-league', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'type/article', 'profile/robinmckie', 'profile/michael-savage', 'profile/philipcornwall', 'publication/theobserver', 'theobserver/news', 'theobserver/news/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/observer-main'] | environment/activism | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM | 2019-05-11T20:09:17Z | true | CLIMATE_ACTIVISM |
environment/green-living-blog/2010/jul/08/carbon-footprint-iraq-war | What's the carbon footprint of … the Iraq war? | The carbon footprint of war: 690 million tonnes CO2e: a 'limited' nuclear exchange 250–600 million tonnes CO2e: the Iraq war since 2003 The direct human costs of wars are so great that it might seem flippant to think about their environmental impacts. But modern armed forces are rapacious consumers of energy and kick out vast quantities of carbon – emissions that may contribute towards human harm well beyond the battlefield. All carbon footprints are virtually impossible to pin down accurately, and this is especially the case for something as complex and chaotic as war. Indeed, the best that can be done in this case is to give some very crude numbers to provide a sense of scale. Perhaps the only academic estimate of the carbon footprint of an atomic war concluded that even a 'small nuclear exchange' of just fifty 15-kilotonne warheads would cause 690 million tonnes of CO2 emissions through the burning of cities – more than the current annual emissions of the UK. But a war doesn't need to be nuclear to have a large carbon footprint. At the time of writing the financial cost of the US military operation in Iraq since 2003 has been estimated at $1.3 trillion, with a further $600 billion anticipated for the lifetime healthcare costs of injured troops. Extrapolating from the carbon intensity of the health and defence industries in the UK, it's possible to have a rough stab at converting this expenditure into carbon. This approach suggests that the US military operation in Iraq may have clocked up around 160–500 million tonnes of CO2e, plus a further 80 million tonnes for the healthcare of troops. Add on a few per cent to both numbers to include the coalition forces and, say, another 1% for the footprint of the much more poorly resourced insurgency, and we might be looking at 250–600 million tonnes – roughly equivalent to everyone in the UK flying to Hong Kong and back between one and three times. And that's excluding the direct emissions from explosions. The war-and-carbon discussion starts to get distinctly uncomfortable (and methodologically just about impossible) at the point where we start factoring in the indirect emissions impact caused by the human and economic impacts of the war. In the nuclear example, the report in question estimates 17 million deaths – equivalent to around one-quarter of the UK population. Looked at in the starkest and simplest possible terms, if each of these people had a typical UK footprint, then the carbon saving of their ceasing to exist might make up for the direct emissions from the war in just a few years. In other words, mass annihilation turns out to be an effective way of curbing emissions – though of course it also defeats the object. See more carbon footprints. • This article is adapted from How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything by Mike Berners-Lee. | ['environment/green-living-blog', 'tone/blog', 'environment/series/the-carbon-footprint-of-everything', 'environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/carbon-emissions', 'environment/carbonfootprints', 'type/article', 'profile/mike-berners-lee', 'profile/duncanclark'] | environment/carbonfootprints | EMISSIONS | 2010-07-08T06:00:00Z | true | EMISSIONS |
technology/2018/apr/18/facebook-facial-recognition-gdpr-targeted-advertising | Facebook to start asking permission for facial recognition in GDPR push | Facebook has started to seek explicit consent from users for targeted advertising, storage of sensitive information, and – for the first time in the EU – application of facial recognition technology as the European general data protection regulation (GDPR) is due to come into force in just over a month. The company is only required to seek the new permissions in the European Union, but it plans to roll them out to all Facebook users, no matter where they live. The move follows Mark Zuckerberg’s stated goal to apply the spirit of GDPR worldwide. When Facebook users log in during the coming weeks, they will be asked to agree to the company’s updated terms of service, and to make specific choices in a number of areas defined by the new law. In a blogpost, Facebook executives Erin Egan and Ashlie Beringer said users would be asked to review information about targeted advertising, and to choose whether or not they want the social network to use data from partners to show them ads; to explicitly confirm whether they’re happy to share “political, religious, and relationship information”, which is defined as specially protected data under EU law; and to agree to the use of facial recognition technology, which Facebook says will be used to detect which pictures users are in and help protect them against strangers using their photos. Some users, however,say Facebook is attempting to railroad them in to giving consent under the new laws, rather than making it easy to make a meaningful choice. If users want to decline the new permissions, they are not able to simply click “no”. Instead, all of the options are presented with a blue button reading “accept and continue” and a white button labelled “manage data settings”. The “manage data settings” button takes them to a second page where Facebook gives more information pushing them into accepting the change, and then a third page where they are able to opt out. “Overall, it seems like Facebook is complying with the letter of GDPR law, but with questionable spirit,” wrote TechCrunch’s Josh Constine. “The subtly pushy designs seem intended to steer people away from changing their defaults in ways that could hamper Facebook’s mission and business.” Facial recognition is a particular watershed for Facebook. The company withdrew an earlier facial recognition feature called tag suggestions from the EU and Canada in 2012 over concerns that it was not compatible with data protection laws in those jurisdictions. Now, however, the company believes it can roll out the features worldwide if it secures active consent from users before applying facial recognition technology to their photos. A California judge allowed a class-action lawsuit against Facebook on Monday over tag suggestions. Users in Illinois are suing the company, arguing that the feature violated state law. | ['technology/facebook', 'technology/gdpr', 'technology/facial-recognition', 'media/advertising', 'technology/data-protection', 'media/media', 'media/socialnetworking', 'technology/technology', 'us-news/us-news', 'world/world', 'world/eu', 'world/europe-news', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/alex-hern', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-home-news'] | technology/facial-recognition | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE | 2018-04-18T11:12:37Z | true | UNRELATED_TO_CLIMATE |
us-news/2021/sep/06/biden-visit-new-york-new-jersey-hurricane-ida | Biden to visit New York and New Jersey reeling from deadly storms | Joe Biden will visit New York and New Jersey on Tuesday as the states reel from last week’s deadly storms and lawmakers urged for fresh spending on stronger infrastructure to combat the climate crisis. Shaken by haunting images of surging rivers, flooded roads and underground rail stations and tornado damage caused by the storm system spawned by Hurricane Ida, bipartisan voices are vowing to upgrade the aging US infrastructure network. The US president granted disaster declarations on Monday for certain counties hard hit in New York and New Jersey. At least 50 people in the US north-east, from Virginia to Connecticut, died as storm water from Ida’s remnants cascaded into people’s homes and engulfed vehicles, overwhelming urban drainage systems unable to handle so much rain in such a short time. Many hundreds were rescued but many drowned, including in their cars, or were struck by falling branches as high winds whipped across the region and tornadoes touched down after dark. Some leading officials warned that the severity of the storm that hit the region last Wednesday took the authorities by surprise and at the same time warned the public to get used to such events as the climate crisis is driving more extreme weather more frequently coast to coast, from drought and wildfire to powerful hurricanes and flash floods. This as the US Gulf coast, lashed with 150mph winds when Ida came ashore in Louisiana eight days ago, remains stricken in many parts, with essential supplies and aid patchy. At least 16 deaths deaths were blamed on the storm in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Members of Congress said the deluge offered irrefutable evidence that power lines, roads, bridges and other infrastructure are deteriorating even as storms and other extreme weather are strengthening. “Global warming is upon us,” said US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer of New York, lamenting the unheard of downpours, including one that dropped a typical September’s worth of rain on New York City in a day. “When you get two record rainfalls in a week, it’s not just coincidence. When you get all the changes that we have seen in weather, that’s not a coincidence. It’s going to get worse and worse and worse, unless we do something about it,” he added. Schumer and other lawmakers said the catastrophe is the latest example of why the nation needs the nearly trillion-dollar infrastructure bill passed by the Senate last month. He and other Democrats also are calling also for passage of Joe Biden’s $3.5tn , partisan rebuilding plan aimed at helping families and combating climate change. “It’s so imperative to pass the two bills,” Schumer said. Democrats hope to pass both bills by the end of this month, but action on the bipartisan bill may be difficult until the larger package is ready. Progressives have said they won’t support a bipartisan bill without strong companion legislation to advance their priorities, and key conservative Senator Joe Manchin has become more wary of approving the $3.5tn budget plan. Biden made a pitch Friday for the bipartisan bill, citing its “historic investment” in roads, rail and bridges, as well as clean energy, clean water and universal broadband. “It’s about resilience,” Biden said. “Make our roads and highways safer. Make us more resilient to the kinds of devastating impacts from extreme weather we’re seeing in so many parts of the country.” The plan includes $110bn to build and repair roads and bridges and $66bn to upgrade railroads. It also includes about $60bn to upgrade the electric grid and build thousands of miles of transmission lines to expand use of renewable energy and nearly $47bn to adapt and rebuild roads, ports and bridges to help withstand damage from stronger storms as well as wildfires and drought. “If we’re going to make our country more resilient to natural disasters, whatever they are, we have to start preparing now,” said Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Cassidy, a lead negotiator on the bipartisan bill, has touted the infrastructure legislation as a boon to hurricane-prone states such as his. The bipartisan bill would be the first to devote money for “climate resilience,” including $17bn for the Army Corps of Engineers to address backlogs in federal flood control projects. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would receive $492m to map inland and coastal flooding. Another $492m would go toward improving the resilience of coastal communities to flooding by restoring natural ecosystems. Republican congressman Garret Graves of Louisiana said that a bipartisan infrastructure bill is needed but that the bill approved by the Senate could harm oil-producing states by freezing out benefits for states that encourage fossil-fuel production. But Ed Potosnak, executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, said emergency spending, and even the bipartisan infrastructure bill, is not sufficient. “I hope this storm is a reminder to all our elected officials: this is what climate change looks like,” Potosnak said. | ['us-news/us-congress', 'us-news/louisiana', 'us-news/new-york', 'us-news/new-jersey', 'us-news/mississippi', 'us-news/alabama', 'world/hurricanes', 'us-news/us-news', 'us-news/us-politics', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | world/hurricanes | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2021-09-06T17:16:24Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
business/2010/jul/07/abandoned-oil-wells-gulf-mexico | Abandoned oil wells make Gulf of Mexico 'environmental minefield' | The Gulf of Mexico is packed with abandoned oil wells from a host of companies including BP, according to an investigation by Associated Press, which describes the area as "an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades". While the explosion and subsequent sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig has thrown the spotlight sharply on BP's activities in the Gulf of Mexico, environmental safety in the area has been neglected for decades. There are more than 27,000 abandoned wells in the Gulf of Mexico, according to AP, of which 600 belonged to BP. The oldest of these abandoned wells dates back to the late 1940s and the investigation highlights concerns about the way in which some of them have been plugged, especially the 3,500 neglected wells that are catalogued by the government as "temporarily abandoned". The rules for shutting off temporarily closed wells are not as strict as for completely abandoned wells. Regulations for temporarily abandoned wells require oil companies to present plans to reuse or permanently plug such wells within a year, but AP found that the rule is routinely circumvented, and that more than 1,000 wells have lingered in that unfinished condition for more than a decade. About three-quarters of temporarily abandoned wells have been left in that status for more than a year, and many since the 1950s and 1960s. AP quotes state officials as estimating that tens of thousands are badly sealed, either because they predate strict regulation or because the operating companies violated rules. Texas alone has plugged more than 21,000 abandoned wells to control pollution, according to the state comptroller's office. In state-controlled waters off the coast of California, many abandoned wells have had to be resealed. But in deeper federal waters, AP points out, there is very little investigation into the state of abandoned wells. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (formerly the US Minerals Management Service), which is charged with keeping an eye on offshore drilling, has little power to deal with abandoned wells. It merely requests paperwork to prove that a well has been capped and, unlike regulators in states such as California, it does not typically inspect the job. The Deepwater Horizon disaster has so far cost BP more than $3bn (£1.98bn) in actual clean-up expenses, but many times more in terms of the company's financial value. Its share price has more than halved since the explosion on 20 April and the clean-up is likely to take months if not years. The AP investigation raises the question of whether there are more such environmental disasters waiting to happen. White knight wanted BP boss Tony Hayward, meanwhile, continues to try to deal with the fallout from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The BP chief executive is understood to have met with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) as he continues his world tour in search of a so-called "white knight" investor to ward off a takeover by a foreign rival. Having already held talks with the Kuwait Investment Office, a current investor, Hayward has switched his interest to other cash-rich oil states as he tries to bolster support for BP, which has become increasingly vulnerable as a result of the share price collapse caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. ADIA is one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds. The news comes after it emerged on Tuesday that the US government has demanded that the oil group give it advance notice of any potential disposals. Earlier this month BP said it would raise $10bn by selling some of its non-core assets to help shore up its balance sheet in the face of the mounting cost of dealing with the spill. On 23 June, the US assistant attorney general Tony West wrote to BP to request that the department of justice be alerted to any sales or even joint ventures entered into by the company. BP has yet to respond. Speculation has centred on the disposal of some of BP's assets in South America, while "mature" assets in the North Sea have been seen by other oil watchers as obvious candidates for sale. Hayward was in Azerbaijan on Tuesday to reassure local politicians that it is not about to jettison its assets on the Caspian and met with Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev. BP has ruled out issuing any new shares, instead hoping that it will be able to persuade investors to pick up their stakes in the market. But many in the City believe it will need to raise more cash to bolster its balance sheet, with a bond issue seen as the most likely route. | ['business/oil', 'environment/bp-oil-spill', 'business/bp', 'environment/oil', 'us-news/us-news', 'business/business', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/richardwray', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/financial3'] | environment/oil | ENERGY | 2010-07-07T15:38:00Z | true | ENERGY |
environment/article/2024/jun/20/mexico-central-america-us-heatwave | Deadly heat in Mexico and US made 35 times more likely by global heating | The deadly heatwave that scorched large swaths of Mexico, Central America and the southern US in recent weeks was made 35 times more likely due to human-induced global heating, according to research by leading climate scientists from World Weather Attribution (WWA). Tens of millions of people have endured dangerous daytime and nighttime temperatures as a heat dome engulfed Mexico, and the large, lingering zone of high pressure stretched north to Texas, Arizona and Nevada and south over Belize, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. A heatwave can be caused by several factors including a heat dome, which traps hot air close to the ground, blocking cool air from entering and causing temperatures to rise and stay high for days or weeks. In May and early June, the heat dome hovered over the region, breaking multiple daily and national records, and causing widespread misery and disruption, especially among the poorest and most marginalized communities. Such extreme heat spells are four times more likely today than they were at the turn of the millennium, when the planet was 0.5C cooler, the WWA analysis found. “Unsurprisingly, heatwaves are getting deadlier … we’ve known about the dangers of climate change at least since the 1970s. But thanks to spineless politicians, who give in to fossil-fuel lobbying again and again, the world continues to burn huge amounts of oil, gas and coal,” said Friederike Otto, co-author of the study and senior lecturer in climate science at Grantham Institute, at Imperial College London. According to the study, without meaningful political action to stop fossil fuels, deadly heatwaves will be “very common in a 2C world”, Otto said. Extreme heat increases the rates of cardiovascular, respiratory and renal diseases, as well as threatening to overwhelm power supplies, healthcare facilities and other infrastructure. At least 125 people have died and thousands more have suffered heatstroke in Mexico since March, when the temperature hit almost 52C on 13 June – the hottest June day ever recorded in the country. The extreme heat exacerbated severe drought and air pollution, stoking power outages, water shortages, thousands of wildfires and a mass die-off of endangered monkeys and birds. The actual mortality and morbidity toll is still unknown. In Phoenix, Arizona, the hottest major city in the US, 72 suspected heat deaths were under investigation by the Maricopa county medical examiner’s office by 8 June – a 18% rise compared with the same period last year. Across the south-west US, more than 34 million people were under heat warnings, and dozens have suffered heat exhaustion at political rallies. In Guatemala’s dry corridor, the hottest and driest part of the country where most people eke out a living from back-breaking farm work, schools were shuttered as temperatures hit 45C, and some of the region’s poorest communities faced crop failures and severe water shortages. In Honduras, electricity has been rationed, and smoke from uncontrolled forest fires contributed to the worst air quality ever recorded in the capital, Tegucigalpa. The death toll from across Central America – one of the most vulnerable regions in the world when it comes to the effects of the climate crisis due to its geography, high levels of poverty and inequality, poor infrastructure and governance, and a lack of heat-warning systems – is unknown. Previous studies have shown that the frequency and intensity of heatwaves, the deadliest form of extreme weather, have been increasing in recent years due to the climate crisis, which is caused by burning fossil fuels and by other human activities such as deforestation and industrialized agriculture. This year’s May was the hottest on record globally – and the 12th consecutive month that records for average monthly temperatures were broken. To quantify the effect of human-caused warming on the recent extreme temperatures across North and Central America, a team of international scientists analysed weather data and climate models using peer-reviewed methods to compare how these types of events have changed between today, with a climate that has warmed by approximately 1.2C, and pre-industrial times, which had a cooler climate. The WWA researchers looked at the five-day maximum temperatures across North and Central America in May and June. The analysis found that the climate crisis made the excessive heat spell about 1.4C hotter during the day – and 35 times more likely than in pre-industrial times. The effect on night temperatures is even stronger, with the analysis finding temperatures about 1.6C hotter – a 200-fold increase due to global heating. Hot nights are particularly dangerous for human health, as the impact of heat is cumulative and the body only begins to rest and recover when temperatures drop below 80F (27C). If fossil fuels are not phased out, the frequency and intensity of heatwaves will continue to rise, leading to more deaths, illness, economic losses, hunger, water shortages and forced migration among the world’s worst-affected communities – who have contributed least to the climate crisis. “As long as humans fill the atmosphere with fossil-fuel emissions, the heat will only get worse. Vulnerable people will continue to die and the cost of living will continue to increase,” said Izidine Pinto, co-author and researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. Yet so much damage to the planet has already been done that heat-related deaths and disruption will continue to rise unless local and national governments rethink every aspect of life including urban planning, water conservation, shade, school sports and outdoor worker protections. Karina Izquierdo, urban adviser for the Latin American and Caribbean region at Red Cross Climate Centre, and a co-author of the study, said: “Every fraction of a degree of warming exposes more people to dangerous heat … As well as reducing emissions, governments and cities need to take steps to become more resilient to heat.” • This article was amended on 20 June 2024 to correct that May was the 12th consecutive month a hottest-month record was broken, not the 13th as stated in an earlier version; and to clarify that these records are based on average monthly temperatures. | ['environment/climate-crisis', 'environment/extreme-heat', 'us-news/us-news', 'environment/environment', 'world/world', 'world/mexico', 'world/belize', 'world/guatemala', 'world/extreme-weather', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/nina-lakhani', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/international', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/us-news'] | environment/extreme-heat | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS | 2024-06-20T07:00:29Z | true | EXTREME_CLIMATE_IMPACTS |
environment/2008/dec/29/water-shortage-england-wales-meters | Running dry, running out: we're wasting too much water despite warnings to turn off taps | Nearly half of the population in England and Wales now live in areas of "water stress" where supply might not keep up with demand - a problem usually associated with parched regions such as north Africa and the Middle East. The huge pressure on water supplies from large and wealthy populations in areas with relatively low rainfall is detailed in the most comprehensive report yet on the state of water resources by the Environment Agency. The report, which will be published in the new year, warns that many rivers, lakes, estuaries and aquifers are already being drained so low that there is a danger to wildlife and a risk to public supplies in dry years, especially as climate change brings drier summers while the population is increasing. People are also using far too much water. The study says average water use is 148 litres per person per day, and as high as 170 litres in the south-east of England - compared to a government target of 130. The agency will use the report to argue for aggressive increases in the number of homes with water meters to reduce demand, and will support proposals by water companies to spend billions of pounds on infrastructure projects such as reservoirs and desalination plants to improve supplies and protect the environment. It is also expected to argue for a new system of regulation under which companies would be allowed to earn more profit if they reduced demand, a system pioneered in California and already being considered for UK energy companies. "We're seeing a shift from how we ran things over the last 100 years," said Trevor Bishop, the agency's head of water resource policy. "The Victorians gave us a legacy of infrastructure ... they predicted what the future needed and provided for it. We can't carry on doing that ad infinitum. "We [will] have 10-20 million extra people, we have got climate change; all the things we have done in the past will get less and less certain and more vulnerable, so what we're doing is trying to manage demands down." The report brings together for the first time new and published data about the availability and use of water for 21 water companies, 24.3m households and a population of 54.4m. Scotland is covered by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and Northern Ireland by the devolved administration. On average, water demand is 10% of "effective rainfall" - what is left over after evaporation to recharge rivers, lakes and aquifers. But because rainfall, population density and water use vary widely, a large area from Kent, north to the Humber estuary and west beyond Oxford is internationally classified as "water stressed" because abstraction is normally more than 20% of effective rainfall. By this definition, 10.5m households and 24.1m people have less water available per person than Morocco and Egypt, says the report. Though hotter, these drier countries have lower populations. "We don't look like [Morocco] because we have got a very, very sophisticated public water supply system [and] a different environmental situation," said Bishop. "What [water stress] means for us is the risk of extreme drought and the infrastructure we rely on to supply our water resources would come under stress." Other statistics show: • 30% of homes have a water meter, and on average they use 13% less water than unmetered households; • In a third of the 119 catchment areas into which water bodies are divided, legal limits on abstraction were (or could be if fully used) exceeding safe levels for habitats, including chalk rivers and wetlands; • Measured against European standards due in 2015, more than 90% of sites were or were probably at risk of failing because of pollution from "point sources" like factories and/or run-off from farms and roads - though many of these by only one of up to 37 measures; • Under expected climate change, river flows would rise in winter but would fall on average by half in summer and autumn, and some by as much as 80%. Water resources were "in many respects far better" than in the past, but rising demand, lower supplies and tougher standards meant a raft of policies were needed to keep taps flowing and the environment protected, said Bishop. Water companies have submitted plans to invest £27bn in maintaining and improving infrastructure for water supplies and sewage treatment in the five years between 2010-15, up from nearly £20bn in the previous five years. The total, and the impact on customer bills, will be decided by the industry regulator, Ofwat, in 2009. There were "pros and cons" to plans put forward, including desalination and new reservoirs, said Bishop. The agency also wants companies in the south-east to speed up plans to increase water metering to 80% of homes by 2030. | ['environment/water', 'environment/recycling', 'environment/ethical-living', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'tone/news', 'type/article', 'profile/juliettejowit', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/topstories'] | environment/recycling | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE | 2008-12-29T00:01:00Z | true | POLLUTION_AND_WASTE |
environment/2017/jun/23/the-long-jump-prize-goes-to-the-froghopper | The long-jump prize goes to … the froghopper | As the morning sun heats the still woodland air the rides fizz with the sounds of flying insects: bumblebees buzz between bramble blossom and clover heads, a myriad of small flies zips through the air, and longhorn beetles whir and clatter around the dog roses. Each species has its own habits and lifecycle that together constitute the intricate web of life in this ancient wood. The lord of the flies is the pellucid hoverfly (Volucella pellucens). He hovers eight feet off the ground, squarely in the centre of the clearing, turning his chrome-yellow face and big brick-red eyes towards any intruder. His bulky jet-black body is bisected by a broad white belt circling the front of his abdomen. The milky band ensnares the sun’s rays and blazes with lucidity. In a bold assertion of his virility he buzzes after and harangues every flying insect that passes. It must be hard work. His offspring will also have a tough job; they live in wasp nests feeding on detritus and dead wasps. A sallow bush at the edge of the wood is home to a great many variegated willow froghoppers (Aphrophora pectoralis). Like their more familiar smaller relative, the common froghopper (Philaenus spumarius), their soft young live in “cuckoo-spit”, though these feed only on willows. The adults are among the jumping champions of the animal world. Their ghostly grey last nymphal skins cling, empty, in little groups on the underside of the sallow leaves and are easier to spot than the adults themselves, which sit tight on the twigs, head pointing up and shaded by a leaf; a posture entirely reminiscent of their bigger cousin, the cicada. Unfortunately, our four species of big arboreal froghoppers do not add a cicada song to the insect symphony; indeed it is now 17 years since the last cicada was heard anywhere in the UK. It’s not that froghoppers don’t sing, they do. Their medium, however, is not the air but the tree on which they sit and through which they transmit their romantic vibrations. Follow Country Diary on Twitter: @gdncountrydiary | ['environment/series/country-diary', 'environment/insects', 'environment/wildlife', 'environment/conservation', 'environment/forests', 'environment/summer', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/features', 'profile/matt-shardlow', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/weather2', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-weather'] | environment/forests | BIODIVERSITY | 2017-06-23T04:30:15Z | true | BIODIVERSITY |
business/2018/dec/20/new-offshore-windfarms-push-uk-renewables-to-record | New offshore windfarms push UK renewables to record | Almost a third of the UK’s electricity came from renewable sources between July and September, as wind turbines and solar panels helped achieve a quarterly record for green energy. Major new offshore windfarms connecting to the grid pushed renewables to 33.1% of electricity generation across the quarter, up from 30% the year before. The speed at which green energy projects are being installed has resulted in records tumbling this year. Wind power broke records during the “beast from the east”, which was eclipsed during Storm Diana last month, and again this week when wind generation hit 15GW on Tuesday. The trend is expected to continue next year as more windfarms around the coast near completion. Initial analysis of some recently built offshore projects also shows they are generating more power than expected. Meanwhile, gas and coal slumped to a new low of just over 41.1%, according to official statistics published on Thursday. Environmental groups said the progress showed the government should rethink its backing for nuclear and fracking, and give its full support to renewables. “Solar and wind technologies are powering ahead, beating new records for low costs and high production despite unhelpful government interventions,” Greenpeace UK’s policy director, Doug Par, said. Low carbon sources of power, which include the country’s eight nuclear power stations, account for 56% of the UK’s electricity supply. The 50% mark was hit only two years ago. Figures also show that householders appear to be rushing to install solar panels before incentives end next year. More than 4,700 solar schemes were fitted in November, the highest in more than two years. The vast majority were of the size households would install. “This could be due to the upcoming closure of the feed-in tariff scheme in March 2019,” the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said. It announced this week that the scheme’s closure would also mean households installing solar in future having to give away unused clean power for free. | ['business/energy-industry', 'business/business', 'environment/renewableenergy', 'environment/energy', 'environment/solarpower', 'environment/windpower', 'uk/uk', 'environment/environment', 'type/article', 'tone/news', 'profile/adam-vaughan', 'publication/theguardian', 'theguardian/mainsection', 'theguardian/mainsection/uknews', 'tracking/commissioningdesk/uk-business'] | environment/renewableenergy | ENERGY | 2018-12-20T12:17:38Z | true | ENERGY |
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